#metoo
By: V-Dem Staff
Nov 19, 2018
October 5th2018 marked the end of the first year of existence for the #metoo movement. Thanks to this social movement, measures to combat sexual assault have assumed a high priority on political agendas in many countries in the past year. The movement quickly spread across the globe and helped raise awareness about sexual assault against women regardless of nationality, age, profession and culture, in an unprecedented manner. The idea that “the victim is to blame” has slowly started to shift to the responsibility of the rapist or harasser. This shift has provided many women with the courage to act and has led to a steep increase in reported incidents.
This week we used the mapping tool to illustrate the extent to which women enjoy equal, secure, and effective access to justice across the world in 2017. This measurement is based on a question that among other things specifies the extent to which women can bring cases before the courts without risk to their personal safety. A higher score (darker blue) indicates that women enjoy more secure and effective access to justice. Scandinavia, large parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America as well as a few countries in South America show high scores. However, recent incidents such as the handling of the allegations about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in the Senate Judiciary Committee, proves that there is still work to be done to ensure equal access to justice for women.
If you are interested in learning more about social movements and women’s rights in various countries around the world, use our online analysis tool at v-dem.net.
