Impact of the #MeToo Movement on Legal Frameworks for Protection of
Women at workplaces in the U.S.A.

Meher Sharma

doi:10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i07.029

Title: Impact of the #MeToo Movement on Legal Frameworks for Protection of Women at workplaces in the U.S.A.
Authors: Meher Sharma
Journal: International Journal of Social Science and Economic Research (IJSSER) ISSN: 2455-8834 Volume: 11 Issue: 7 Publication Date: July 2026 DOI: 10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i07.029
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Meher Sharma The Kings School Canterbury
MLA 8 Sharma, Meher. "Impact of the #MeToo Movement on Legal Frameworks for Protection of Women at workplaces in the U.S.A." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 11, no. 7, July 2026, pp. 3303-3312, doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i07.029. Accessed July 2026. APA 6 Sharma, M. (2026, July). Impact of the #MeToo Movement on Legal Frameworks for Protection of Women at workplaces in the U.S.A. Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, 11(7), 3303-3312. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i07.029 Chicago Sharma, Meher. "Impact of the #MeToo Movement on Legal Frameworks for Protection of Women at workplaces in the U.S.A." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research 11, no. 7 (July 2026), 3303-3312. Accessed July, 2026. https://doi.org/10.46609/IJSSER.2026.v11i07.029.
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ABSTRACT: The #MeToo movement started when Tarana Burke created it but became a worldwide movement after its 2017 introduction. The study investigates how the movement changed laws and policies and their implementation to protect women who work in professional settings. The research assesses existing legal frameworks which include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and their operational capacity before the movement. The research examines legal scholarship and government reports and policy documents to track how workplace protections have evolved over time. The results show that while basic legal protections were present, practical implementation faced challenges because of required arbitration agreements and nondisclosure contracts and the risk of retaliation. The #MeToo movement led to important changes which included new rules that limited forced arbitration and established restrictions on nondisclosure agreements and provided better employee rights and increased requirements for workplace training. The research shows that both reporting and litigation and enforcement activities have increased which demonstrates that legal systems and workplace environments and accountability systems have undergone transformation. The #MeToo movement brought about two major changes through its creation of new legal systems and its achievement of better institutional response capacity. The existing legal systems need ongoing assessment because different states implement them differently and people continue to face difficulties when reporting violations which affects their ability to achieve workplace safety and gender equality.

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