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More than a year after the bombshell New York Times report that brought the #MeToo movement into the national spotlight, at least 201 prominent men have been brought down by allegations of sexual misconduct—and 43 percent of their replacements are women. The New York Times reports that this marks a major shift from the year before the #MeToo movement began, in which fewer than 30 people lost their jobs over sexual harassment allegations. “We’ve never seen something like this before,” Joan Williams, a law professor who studies gender at the University of California, Hastings, told the Times. “Women have always been seen as risky, because they might do something like have a baby. But men are now being seen as more risky hires.”
The work is far from over: Women are still underrepresented in leadership roles, and allegations continue to surface even as the accused begin plotting their comebacks. But for the women who have been promoted to fill these roles, the impact is monumental. “A bunch of us who took over these jobs got promoted because we were really good at these jobs,” said public radio host Tanzina Vega. “We have the skills, we have the experience, we have the work ethic and we have the smarts to do it, and it’s time for us to do this job.”