The Global #MeToo Movement

When US activists started using the #MeToo hashtag (as created by Tarana Burke) to speak out against sexual harassment, they joined, and then helped propel, a global movement.

On every continent, women are using the new tools of social media to confront one of the oldest barriers to equality: the threat of violence, including sexual harassment, as a tool of male supremacy. In this course, produced by the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality & Anti-Discrimination Law, 48 contributors from 28 countries spanning every continent but Antarctica tell the story of how social media has driven a social movement against sexual harassment and how the law has responded, often by helping men to push back.

5-Week Schedule:

1. Welcome to the Course; Introduction to the #MeToo Movement
2. Intersectionality & the #MeToo Movement; Resistance Across the Globe
3. Educational Institutions; The Workplace
4. Social Media: A Double-Edged Sword; Global Backlash: Obstacles & Adversaries
5. Prevention & Looking Toward the Future

Course Organizers:
David B. Oppenheimer, UC Berkeley (US)
Ann M. Noel, Noel Workplace Consulting (US)

Guest Professors:

Catharine MacKinnon, University of Michigan Law School (US)

Nancy Chi Cantalupo, Wayne State University

Jessica Clarke, Vanderbilt University Law School

Radhika Coomaraswamy, Former Under Secretary General of the United Nations, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict

Isabel Cristina Jaramillo Sierra, Universidad de los Andes (Colombia)
Gladys Mbuya, FIDA International (Cameroon)

Vida Thomas, Oppenheimer Investigations Group (US)

Natasha Baker, Novus Law Firm (US)

Nyoki Sacramento, UC San Francisco (US)

Colleen Sheppard, McGill University (Canada)

Peter Dunne, University of Bristol (United Kingdom)

Russell Robinson, UC Berkeley School of Law (US)

Meghan Campbell, Birmingham Law School (United Kingdom)

Lucy-Ann Buckley, University of Galway

Purna Sen, Former Director of the UN Women Policy Division (United Kingdom)

Furaha Joy Sekai Saungweme, Africa End Sexual Harassment Initiative (AESHI) (Tanzania)

Debbie Collier, University of Cape Town (South Africa)

Ivana Bacik, Leader of the Irish Labour Party (Ireland)

Lucy Kihonge, Flone Initiative (Kenya)

Obiageli "Oby" Ezekwesili, #BringBackOurGirls movement (Nigeria)

Karen Vandekerckhove, European Commission (Belgium)

Marie Mercat-Bruns, Sciences Po Law School (France)

Katharina Miller, Miller International Knowledge (Spain)

Alvaro Oliveira, Andela (Brazil)

Estefanía Vela Barba, Intersecta (Mexico)

Denise Neves Abade, MacKenzie University School of Law (Brazil)

Kazuko Ito, Human Rights Now (Japan)
Kalpana Kannabiran, Commonwealth Foundation (India)

Clarissa Humphreys, Durham University (United Kingdom)

Vlasta Jalušič, The Peace Institute, Slovenia

Severyna Magill, Sheffield Hallam University (United Kingdom)

Lining Zhang, Peking University (China)

Suzanne Taylor, Former Civil Rights Attorney (US)

Stephanie White, Lozano Smith (US)

Jessica Cabrera, The Institute for Research on Male Supremacism (US)

Jerlena Griffin-Desta, Sonoma State University (US)

David Surratt, University of Oklahoma (US)

Anna Maria Camardo, Freelance Journalist (US)

Amy Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer Investigations Group (US)

Hailyn Chen, Munger, Tolles & Olson (US)

Robin Runge, George Washington University Law School (US)

Natasha de Silva, Intersection (Australia)

Marjorie Mutale, ZSIC Life (Zambia)

Zandile Sithole, University of Pretoria (South Africa)

Fundi Nzimande, Fundi N Creations (South Africa)

Bashiratu Kamal, General Agricultural Workers’ Union of the Trades Union Congress (Ghana)

Virginia Marturet, Stanford University (Argentina)

Saru Jayaraman, One Fair Wage (US)

Ally Coll, The Purple Campaign (US)

Jennifer Reisch, Equal Rights Advocates (US)

Catherine Fisk, UC Berkeley (US)

Lizzie Barmes, Queen Mary University of London (United Kingdom)

Georgina Calvert-Lee, Bellevue Law (United Kingdom)

Andrea Johnson, National Women’s Law Center (US)

Aileen McColgan, University of Leeds (UK)

Beth Gaze, Melbourne Law School (Australia)

Nicole Groves, Chicago-Kent College of Law (US)

Sharyn Tejani, TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund (US)

Shivangi Misra, Equality Now (Canada)

Adriane van der Wilk, Les Enfants Dehors (France)

Karen O’ Connell, University of Technology Sydney (Australia)

Halliki Voolma, European Commission (Belgium)

Eva Greene, McAllister Olivarius Law (US)

Roseline Odede, Law Society of Kenya (Kenya)

Laura Bourgeois, Sherpa (France)

Barbara Havelkova, University of Oxford (Czechia)

Costanza Hermanin, European University Institute (Italy)

Keina Yoshida, Centre for Reproductive Rights (United Kingdom)

Sabrina Cartabia, Red de Mujeres (Argentina)

Vrinda Grover, Working Group on Human Rights in India and the UN (India)

Jamillah Bowman Williams, Georgetown University Law Center (US) ****

Student Research Assistants/Producers:
Alex Apodaca

Megan Cistulli

Guanmei “Grace” Dai

Alaina Delsignore

Victoria Dinov

Astrid Duperthuy

Trinity Durborow

Talia Harris

Zoe Hayes

Katrin Karl

Ariana Kretz

Kristina Marter

Michelle Rivera Lopez

Emma Tavangari

Sophie Xue