States act as #MeToo sexual misconduct claims mount
WASHINGTON - As the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct began snaring politicians, state legislatures across the United States vowed to re-examine their policies to prevent harassment and beef up investigations into complaints of sexual wrongdoing.
About half of all state legislative chambers have followed through with at least some sort of change to their sexual harassment policies, most often by boosting their own training, according to a 50-state analysis. But the others have done nothing this year, even as sexual misconduct allegations against lawmakers have been mounting.
The mixed response highlights both the political pressure to act and the institutional resistance to do so that exists in many state legislatures, where women now serve in record numbers yet remain outnumbered 3-to-1 by men.
