--- title: How to Make #MeToo a Truly International Women's Movement description: On International Women's Day, we must think about how to expand the #ThisIsNotWorking campaign beyond Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. canonical: https://time.com/5192406/metoo-international-womens-day-care/ author: Michelle Nunn article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-09T14:40:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:02:04.851Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How to Make #MeToo a Truly Global Movement og:description: "There is no internationally agreed-upon definition of workplace violence and harassment" og:url: https://time.com/5192406/metoo-international-womens-day-care/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt61968b2707a65b6f/69892a3f096a945d116a1c56/international-womens-day-metoo-thisisntworking-sexual-harassment-workplace.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: International Women's Day in Toulouse, France og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to Make #MeToo a Truly Global Movement twitter:description: "There is no internationally agreed-upon definition of workplace violence and harassment" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt61968b2707a65b6f/69892a3f096a945d116a1c56/international-womens-day-metoo-thisisntworking-sexual-harassment-workplace.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How to Make #MeToo a Truly Global Movement > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=ef089df6-1894-42bd-a6ac-55f738caee2c&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jbtW5SvJ.m3u8) (5:02)  _Published 2017-12-06. For giving voice to open secrets, for moving whisper networks onto social networks, for pushing all of us to stop accepting the unacceptable, the Silence Breakers are the 2017 Person of the Year._ by [Michelle Nunn](https://time.com/author/michelle-nunn/) ## Michelle Nunn Mar 9, 2018 2:40 PM UTC For giving voice to open secrets, for moving whisper networks onto social networks, for pushing all of us to stop accepting the unacceptable, the Silence Breakers are the 2017 Person of the Year. by [Michelle Nunn](https://time.com/author/michelle-nunn/) ## Michelle Nunn Mar 9, 2018 2:40 PM UTC The immediate impact of the [#MeToo movement](http://time.com/5189945/whats-the-difference-between-the-metoo-and-times-up-movements/) inspires us. But the long-term test is not whether it brings down dozens of powerful men in the United States, but whether it lifts up millions of women around the world. Moving beyond [International Women’s Day](http://time.com/4249446/international-womens-day-books/), we should not only recognize that the producer’s couch in L.A. can be a dangerous place, but also imagine what it is like on the factory floor in Cairo. In Egypt, 62% of men think it’s sometimes or always acceptable for an employer to expect an employee to have intimate interactions such as sex with them, a relative or a friend, according to [an eight-country survey](http://www.care.org/newsroom/press/press-releases/new-global-poll-significant-share-men-believe-expecting-intimate) conducted by Harris Poll for CARE, the poverty-fighting organization I lead. In India, 39% of men say it’s either sometimes or always acceptable to wolf-whistle or cat-call at a colleague, the poll found. And in the UK, 36% of 25- to 34-year-olds think it’s acceptable to pinch a colleague’s bottom. These statistics aren’t alarming aberrations; attitudes everywhere need changing. We know that sexual harassment is a problem within our own humanitarian sector — no industry or geography is immune. We have our work cut out for us — here in the U.S. and around the world. But the #MeToo moment is providing hope. In far-off places, thousands of miles from Hollywood or Washington, D.C., expectations are rising among millions of forgotten women that today’s scandals might effect positive change in their workplaces. From Vietnam to India, women want this galvanizing moment to spark a global movement. A roadmap exists, but it demands we create change community by community, from the bottom up. How do we stand in solidarity with women all over the world who experience sexual harassment at work and discrimination at large? By reaching into communities to organize women to fight for their dignity — and by enlisting men. In Egypt, Tuk Tuk taxi drivers notoriously harass women passengers and those they pass on the street. We recruit these young men drivers to send a different message: that abusing and harassing their country’s sisters, wives and mothers isn’t just wrong, but a violation of their own values. Today, increasing numbers of drivers are becoming champions for women — a key to change. In Ecuador, we have organized domestic workers — through labor unions and women’s associations — and recently I got to see firsthand how they are speaking up for their rights and dignity. Alicia who began her work as a maid at age ten and spent years unpaid, threatened and pressured to have sex with her employer. Today she is an activist fighting to ensure her daughters grow up safely and receive an education. As she said to a CARE staffer, “We need to start respecting women and listening to their stories in order to end the violence and abuse.” We know that we can make a difference community by community. But we need to bring these changes to scale — we need to create system change at a global level. Just as the United States in the 1970s recognized at last that violence against women is a crime, not a private matter, we must insist that workplace harassment be treated as a core labor issue. Nearly eight out of ten domestic workers in Latin America are subject to informal labor conditions that make them [much more vulnerable to physical or sexual violence](http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS%5F498779/lang--en/index.htm). Rape should not be in anyone’s job description. The question is whether we can build the capacity of workers everywhere to demand and exercise their human and labor rights. An immediate test is whether the International Labour Organization (ILO) will create a global convention against workplace sexual harassment, so the world makes clear that freedom from sexual abuse at work is as fundamental as the right to a bathroom break, an eight-hour day or overtime pay. To truly tackle a problem, you must first define it, yet there is no internationally agreed-upon definition of workplace violence and harassment. An ILO convention would fix that and fill many other gaps preventing us from confronting workplace harassment at both the global and domestic levels. Gender-based violence is both a cause and a consequence of poverty and gender inequality. But it remains a hidden, even a taboo issue, in many countries. We need to change that. [The Academy Awards ceremony](http://time.com/5180877/oscars-2018-times-up-red-carpet/) gave us a glimpse into what it might look like if women in Hollywood had a more equal voice; the stakes are even higher for millions of others working out of the limelight in hotels, farms and factories — from Kenya to Sri Lanka. For their future, the spirit of #MeToo demands we all make clear that [#ThisIsNotWorking](http://thisisnotworking.care.org/). ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] We can't all be ****. We can't all be asking for it. I am here to give you permission to be angry. This reality might not have to be our reality anymore. I felt this crushing sense of powerlessness. This is the time to take my power back. Here's my story. Uber promises. Investigation into sexual harrassment. Fox News cutting its ties with Bill O'Reilley. I felt it was my duty for the women who are silent to be brave. It's okay to stand up for yourself. Taylor Swift appearing in court today. Harvey Weinstein, the New York- People forget a lot that there's a human behind this. Someone who was very hurt and wronged. [ MUSIC ] [ CROSSTALK ] I always thought maybe things could change for my daughter. I never thought things could change for me. [ MUSIC ] Honestly, I was furious. I have had a man grope me in front of multiple collegues and I was tired of wondering if it was something I wore, I was tired of wondering if it was a vibe I was giving off and when I talked to other women they were furious too >> I felt that if I can speak out, may be if I just stand up then someone else would stand up with me >> There wasn't a place For us to report these experiences. But I sure did talk about it a lot over the years. The least I could do was actually tell my own story and validate theirs for them in a way, just as I was hoping someone much bigger than me would help validate my story. And I knew that other women Would continue to apple for jobs there and that made me feel really uncomfortable. I was afraid of the retaliation, I know the power of patriarchy. I know what men can do when their angry. They did everything that they could to prevent me from raising my concerns further. They asked me if there were other girls, maybe that he has done this too and can I go get them. I had to show them that I wasn't lying And it's like they took me for a joke. And if they couldn't stop us from talking, well, they were gonna stop everybody from listening to us. People digging into my Instagram and pulling up sexy photos as if they kind of discredited me. Well, I've seen you in committee. You're really tough. Why didn't you just hit him? Why did you let it go on for so long? I was a smart young woman that had gone to college, that knew how to fight, and I still was manipulated and conned. I felt ashamed that I hadn't spoken out sooner, not having the strength earlier on to make it stop. The feeling of being humiliated as a woman And there's a point you think is it my fault? For so long I went around harboring this ridiculous belief that because I was a non white woman in my 20s, it was expected that I would have to be treated this way. We don't have to just live like this. Few things could change from my daughter I never thought things could change from me. I'm here to give you permission to be angry, people are afraid specially women where conditioned since birth to be polite. To be nice, to be kind, to be liked to not make waves. ****. We can't all be crazy, we can't all be ****, we can't all be asking for it. And I'm telling you that all the people who stand up, all the people who speak out you are teaching people how to treat and you should not be shamed for that. The shame is not ours to hold, the shame is on perpetrator. Me Too can be a conversation starter or it can be the whole conversation. It took away the power from the predator. And placed the power on the victim. And maybe, just maybe we would be able to get a glimpse at the magnitude of this problem. The amount of people sharing the stories with me is so intense. People that were complete strangers reached out to tell very personal stories. It's What they did with this and they did a lot and not only in France in Hong kong japanese. The most months >> I feel like the day that I spoke up and I said you are a sexual harasser I changed >> some of the. Things in the night. [ FOREIGN ]. It's an honor to be the person that hey I spoke up about this. I took on the risk. And I was very humbled and I was very proud. I'm very glad now that the story has been heard. It's a direct response to that arrogance and that show of power and [ UNKNOWN ]. A sense, we won't be silenced. 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