Hegseth’s confirmation hearing shows how far #MeToo has fallen

Donald Trump has inadvertently pushed our culture to the point where it may finally change for good. We will take care of it.

Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky
| Opinion authors

In six days, Donald Trump, an considered a sexual attackerwill take the oath of office as the 47th president of the United States.

If Trump has his way, his cabinet will include men and women with troubling personal histories. Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, whom confirmation hearing It’s Tuesday, he admitted using a confidentiality agreement to cover up the rape accusation.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, did was accused for sexual assault by the woman caring for his children.

Linda McMahon, his nominee for education secretary accused in the trial enabling the sexual abuse of boys who worked for her and her husband Vince (who worked he himself was accused of sexual harassment) when they ran World Wrestling Entertainment.

To make matters worse, news recently broke that former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, widely considered a rampaging sexual predator, attended a meeting of Trump’s cabinet at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. O’Reilly he was accused by six women of sexual harassment, and recently forced one of the women to enter a secret arbitration chamber keep her gagged about what he allegedly did to her.

We have lost the momentum that women – and lawmakers – worked so hard to build

It seems we’re a long way from the beginnings of the #MeToo movement we helped ignite We filed lawsuits against Fox News and its then-president and CEO Roger Ailes, respectively. Our lawsuits sparked a conversation about sexual misconduct in the workplace, inspiring other women to take up the issue of aggressive behavior.

While biggest names like Harvey Weinstein get the most attention, almost every day we hear from women who share horror stories about how their lives and careers were destroyed simply because they had the misfortune of working for or with a predator.

Not only women noticed that something needed to change. Over the last few years, Congress has taken action, working with us to pass bipartisan legislation that eliminates forced arbitration and pre-dispute non-dispute agreements for sexual misconduct.

Deleting these silencing mechanisms by repealing the Compulsory Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act and Act The Speech Act has played a key role in giving survivors a voice and empowering them to take a stand against the predators and workplaces that try to silence them. Passing the legislation is at the heart of the #MeToo movement and restores balance between perpetrators of violence in power and victims of violence.

As we have consistently told lawmakers and corporate stakeholders, this movement is not going away, so it would be easier for them to simply be on the right side of history.

Does Trump’s election mean the #MeToo movement is history?

Following Trump’s re-election, the most important question we are now being asked is whether the #MeToo movement itself has become history. After all, if a majority of Americans continued to vote for him despite knowing about his mistreatment of women, it would make sense that all the progress women have made in the last eight years would finally come to a halt.

It’s the other way around.

After Trump’s first presidential election, supporters mobilized to advance the cause at both the state and federal levels to protect women in the workplace from misconduct.

It took us six years to get through Ending the Compulsory Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Actbut work on this bill began already during Trump’s first campaign.

Following a sexual assault scandal under Gov. Phil Murphyin New Jersey in 2019, became the first state in the country to pass the exam Act prohibiting confidentiality agreements for all toxic problems in the workplace.

Other states, such as California and Washington, it soon happenedinspired by local stories about workplace harassment. It’s important to remember that all of these efforts began during Trump’s final term in the White House.

History is not always a linear progression. Changing laws that protect women in the workplace during the most politically polarized time is difficult, but changing the culture is even more difficult. The impetus for real and meaningful change comes when society reaches a tipping point.

It is possible that by electing accused sexual predators to lead our nation, Trump has inadvertently pushed our culture to the point where it may finally change for good. We will take care of it.

The founders are Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky Lift our voicesan organization dealing with eliminating silencing mechanisms in the workplace.