Me Too, the worldwide movement that empowers people who have experienced sexual harassment or assault to speak up and receive support, is modestly improving conditions in the workplace.
We collected opinions from more than 2,000 Americans on SurveyMonkey Audience to understand Me Too’s impact on the work culture at individual organizations and on entire industries.
More than half (58%) of employees say the Me Too movement hasn’t changed their organization in any way.
But when we break down its impact by demographics, like gender and race, and scope (organization vs. industry), we see significant trends emerge. Here’s a look at what we’ve found:
Me Too movement impact: Slightly positive, if anything
At the industry level, men and women both agree that the Me Too movement has had a positive influence. More specifically, nearly 3 in 4 women (74%) would say its had a mostly positive affect on their industry’s work culture, versus 63% of men.
Our research also found that white people are less inclined than Latinx or Black people to say its had a mostly positive affect in their industry’s work culture.
But the results appear less sunny when we take a closer look: Nearly two-thirds of women (63%) say that the Me Too movement impact hasn’t been felt at their organization; while men are slightly more likely to believe that the Me Too movement has improved conditions in the workplace, with only 54% saying it hasn’t changed things.
Finally, when broken down by party lines, we found that employees who identify as Democrats are significantly more likely than those who identify as Republicans to say that Me Too has played a constructive role in the workplace: 81% of Dems say its impact has been positive, while only 49% of Republicans answer the same way.
Different impressions of the changes Me Too brings about
Different demographics are bullish on particular benefits.
Nearly a quarter of men (24%) say that its made them more careful and thoughtful about how they interact with women at work (10% of women agree that it’s had this affect on men).
Minorities are more likely to say that Me Too has led to new policies at their company:
Minorities are also more likely to believe that it’s led to more employees being fired or reprimanded (4% of white adults would say so, versus 8% and 15% of Latinx and Black adults, respectively).
Finally, younger professionals are more likely to think that Me Too has led to more people coming forward with sexual harassment claims: 12% of those between 18-24 years old believe it has—versus only 3% of people who are 55-64 years old.
Many think their organization is capable of having a Me Too problem
According to many Americans, future abuse in the workplace seems to be an unfortunate reality.
About 24% of adults wouldn’t be surprised if a Me Too incident were to happen at their organization.
Though white adults are less optimistic than minorities about the Me Too movement impact, they’re more hopeful that it wouldn’t happen where they work: 31% and 28% of Black and Latinx adults, respectively, would not be be surprised, versus 22% of white adults.
The Me Too movement may have made some headway in creating a safer and more comfortable workplace, but it’s clearly only the first step.
This SurveyMonkey Audience study was conducted from October 9‑12, 2018. We surveyed 2,083 adults, 18 and older, who live in the United States. The sample was balanced by age, race, among other demographic variables, according to the U.S. Census.
