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Women's Suffrage
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote, a right known as women's suffrage, and was ratified on August 18, 1920, ending almost a century of protest. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
The phrase “sexual harassment” was coined in 1975, by a group of women at Cornell University.
A former employee of the university, Carmita Wood, filed a claim for unemployment benefits after she resigned from her job due to unwanted touching from her supervisor. -
Supreme Court rules sexual harassment can be sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII
The case of Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson ruled that speech in itself can create a hostile environment which violates the law. -
Antia Hill
During Clarence Thomas's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, law professor Anita Hill is reluctantly thrust into the national spotlight when a confidential statement she made is leaked to the press. In it, Hill claimed she was sexually harassed by Thomas on multiple occasions when she worked for him years earlier at the EEOC. -
The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 is passed.
This limits acceptability of evidence of the past sexual history of the plaintiff in sexual harassment cases. It permits such evidence against sexual harassers accused of assault. -
Same Sex Harassment
In a 1998 case brought by a man accusing his male employer of sexual harassment, the Supreme Court rues that Title VII's protection against workplace harassment also applies when the victim and the accused are of the same sex. -
MeToo
In 2006, activist Tarana Burke creates a MySpace post to empower women against sexual harassment and sexual assault -
The viral movement
Following widespread exposure of accusations of predatory behavior by Harvey Weinstein, actress Alyssa Milano writes a tweet encouraging the spreading of the phrase #metoo. Within 24 hours, the tweet was retweeted more than 500,000 times. -
Time Magazine's Person of the Year
Time Magazine recognizes the silence breakers as their 2017 person of the year -
Time's Up
More than 300 women of Hollywood form an anti-harassment coalition called Times Up. -
Golden Globes
The 75th Golden Globes Awards was held in Beverly Hills, Calif. Many stars wore all black in solidarity with the Time's Up movement and some donned a Time's Up pin designed by stylist and costume designer Arianne Phillips. -
Women's March
More than a million people took to the streets around the nation for the second annual Women's March. This year's event, held on the anniversary of President Donald Trump's oath of office, focused on disapproval of his administration and policies, as well as encouraging people to vote. -
Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby was convicted of drugging and molesting a woman in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era, completing the spectacular late-life downfall of a comedian who broke racial barriers in Hollywood on his way to TV superstardom as America's Dad. -
Harvey Weinstein Arrest
Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to New York authorities after being charged with rape in the first and third degrees, as well as criminal sexual act in the first degree for forcible sexual acts against two women in 2013 and 2004. -
Cosby Sentenced
At age 81, Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years behind bars for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his gated estate. The punishment made him the first celebrity of the #MeToo era to be sent to prison and all but completed the dizzying, late-in-life fall from grace for the comedian, TV star and breaker of racial barriers. -
Surviving R. Kelly
Lifetime network airs a six-episode docuseries that explores the abuse allegations against Chicago R&B superstar R. Kelly. -
R. Kelly Charged
R&B superstar R. Kelly is charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, court records show, about 10 years after being acquitted on charges of child pornography. -
Jeffrey Epstein
Jeffrey Epstein, the 66-year-old hedge fund manager, faces a court appearance on charges of abuse of dozens of underage girls as young as 14. Epstein was accused of paying underage girls hundreds of dollars in cash for massages and then molesting them at his homes in Florida and New York from 2002 through 2005. -
Katie Hill Resignation
Southern California Rep. Katie Hill resigns amidst allegations that she engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship. This is the first time that the House ethics rule forbidding sexual relationships with subordinates has forced a lawmaker out of Congress -
Weinstein Indicted
Harvey Weinstein is indicted on new sex crime charges in Los Angeles, just as his trial on separate rape and sexual assault charges in New York was poised to get underway, according to the Associated Press. -
Weinstein Conviction
Harvey Weinstein is convicted at his sexual assault trial. He was found guilty of criminal sex act for assaulting a production assistant in 2006 and third-degree rape of a woman in 2013. The jury found him not guilty on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault, that could have resulted in a life sentence. -
Weinstein Sentenced
Harvey Weinstein is sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault, a sight the Hollywood mogul's multitude of accusers thought they would never see.