Alibaba Fires Female Employee For Accusing Senior Manager Of Rape Under #MeToo Movement. WTF?

When the #MeToo movement started doing the rounds, many women (and men) came forward and talked about their sexual assault stories. Many of them included harassment in the workplace that many female employees did not have the guts to talk about earlier due to fear of repercussions and/or termination. However, this movement gave many the courage to talk about this and create a safe space for all victims of abuse. However, many people’s fears were recognised as companies fired them to save their own reputations. One of them was a woman surnamed Zhou as she said that she has been fired by Alibaba, China’s e-commerce leader. 

Zhou was fired by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. after she accused a manager of rape following the #MeToo movement. Zhou was fired by Alibaba spreading false information in August about being raped by a senior manager. She was given no severance and was given compensation until the day she was working. Zhou’s termination followed a month-long controversy in which Chinese corporations were accused of excessive drinking and sexism against women. The Alibaba manager surnamed Wang was fired and two senior executives at Alibaba resigned. Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang called the manner in which the company handled the incident a “humiliation,” according to reports. 

Zhou’s firing caused chaos over social media as many opposed it as a case of sexism and encouragement of rape culture. While others pointed out the inconsistencies in her stories in police reports. 

Also Read: Life-like Child Sex Dolls Of Girls And Babies Are Being Openly Sold On Alibaba. This Is Deeply Sickening

The case against Wang was dropped in September. The prosecutor said his offence would just come under “forcible indecency.” They said that this carries a maximum penalty of 15-days detention. The police reports seemed to falsify Zhou’s assertions, including her claim that she found an open pack of condoms under her bed. Alibaba has had to deal with a lot of information leaks as they dismissed 10 staff members for leaking information. The company says that they have strict policies against information leaks. Zhou said that many women reached out to her talking about their sexual assault stories. 

Alibaba has since changed its policies to protect them. They now have a hotline and a team of women to supervise sexual harassment cases and complaints.

Despite many companies like Alibaba changing their employee policies to protect and accommodate them, we are far from a completely safe workplace environment. And issues like these should never be a reason for women (or anyone for that matter) to not pursue and have a full and successful career.

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