Harvey Weinstein has reached a settlement with 30 women who’ve accused him of sexual harassment and abuse. Actually, an insurance company that’s in bankruptcy has reached that settlement. Weinstein will not personally pay a dime of the money. He won’t even pay his own $12 million in legal fees. Instead, the insurance company that’s in bankruptcy has agreed to cover that as well. (Good luck to the victims and lawyers as they try to collect.) Worse still, Weinstein will admit no wrongdoing., and his company will be protected from further lawsuits.
Is there a lesson to be learned here? If so, what is the lesson? Is the 1950s status quo where men are in charge and can do what they want and women just have to put up with it still in play? We certainly hope not. But the recent Weinstein settlement suggests that maybe it is.
For more about the Weinstein case and settlement, check out this excellent article on Slate.