MeToo and Sexual Violence Among Women in Zambia

Abstract

By using a qualitative study involving 80 participants, the aim of this study is to investigate the relevance of the MeToo movement as a tool for responding to sexual violence among women in Zambia. Our findings suggest that rather than definitively establishing the MeToo movement as an incontestable good or as useless because it ignores cultural realities as argued by its critics, our findings demonstrate the diversity of how this movement is locally viewed and also illustrates the complexity and multidimensionality of how it is characterized in Zambia. Our findings thus question the folly of a “one-size-fits-all” understanding and characterization of the MeToo movement. The study ends by providing suggestions about how to navigate this complexity.