Since the #MeToo movement began more than a year ago, at least 200 men have left or been forced to leave their jobs in media, politics, business and other industries. Now, nearly half of these men have been replaced be a woman, according to a recent report from The New York Times.
More specifically, the Times found that 53 out of 122 men were succeeded by a woman, or 43 percent. The industry with the most replacements turned out to be news media (one-third), followed by government (one-fourth), and then the arts (one-fifth). “For example, Robin Wright replaced Kevin Spacey as lead actor on House of Cards, Emily Nemens replaced Lorin Stein as editor of The Paris Review, and Tina Smith replaced Al Franken as a senator from Minnesota,” the Times reported.
Detailed graphics show each individual replacement, and whether or not the role was filled temporarily or permanently. The Times also broke down the data for men who were replaced by other men, whose position is still vacant, and those who haven’t been replaced at all.
#MeToo brought down 201 powerful men. Women are nearly half of their replacements. https://t.co/FBul0e4HJw pic.twitter.com/2sMlApFRoU
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 23, 2018
Law professor Joan Williams told the Times that while women have traditionally been labeled “risky” because “they might do something like have a baby,” men are “now being seen as more risky hires.”
There’s still so much work to do in regards to both sexual harassment and representation in the workplace, but women gaining power, as shown in the Times‘ report, is definitely progress.