With the recent arrest of disgraced Hollywood moviemaker Harvey Weinstein, in New York, comes a certain amount of satisfaction for many women in Tinsel Town.

The popular, “Me Too,” movement was started by notable Hollywood actresses after many started speaking out about sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace.

It seems in the year 2018, this is still rampant and going on so frequently that women from all across America are coming forward to make their voices heard.

It is no longer just recognizable Hollywood actresses, but regular working women from all career paths who are demanding to be heard and changes to be made in the workplace conducive to a non-threatening environment.

From minimum-wage working women to corporate executives, too long women have felt they had no choice but to put up with such behavior while on their jobs trying to do what all working women are doing: Trying to pay bills, support their families and hopefully in the process make a better way of life for themselves and those they love.

It is hard enough to find good daycare facilities for their children, only to go into a job and be under the command of a male boss or business owner who cannot keep their hands and their innuendoes to themselves.

Sexual harassment can also happen to men in the workplace. Some men in Hollywood and notable athletes have begun to speak out.

For decades, women have tolerated such behavior by having to keep their lips sealed and fend off unwanted advances on their own.

This shouldn’t have been the case in the early 1960s through present day, but unfortunately, it is still so widespread that even the rich and famous are now saying, “No more.”

Unlike decades past, there are now federal laws on the books to protect the rights of working women and men.

The human resources departments in many companies and corporations have sexual harassment workshops provided for employees to educate them on what is not allowed as required by law. Common sense governs most in this day and age. Even with these procedures and laws in place it seems not be getting through to a large percentage of the male population.

Women who are now in their 50s-70s had no laws to protect them during the decades they worked. Talking to many who worked during this era, they now are relieved to see and hear women vocalizing their rights and bringing public awareness to the forefront of this issue.

Some stories recounted included a lady who worked at a convenience store in the early 1980s saying she always froze up if she was having to stock the cooler with beverages when her male supervisor came in.

She said every female employee at the store went through the same thing if they were in the cooler or alone at the register with no customers. He would come directly into the cooler and make unwanted advances toward any female that might be there.

“We had no one to tell,” she said. “You just found an excuse to get out of that cooler if you could, or do what you had to do to avoid him. Women at some of the other stores who also had male supervisors dealt with the same problems. The worse part is that these men were all married with families.”

Some tried to complain, she said, only to find out that in a short amount of time they were fired for fabricated reasons.

“So many were single moms who had no other income, found themselves stressed, unemployed and because they were fired, many became unemployable.”

The overwhelming feeling of helplessness seemed to run throughout the women who have faced this.

“There was no place to go, no one to tun to,” she said. “You knew if you didn’t have that job your children didn’t have food, clothes or school supplies.”

Maybe now that Hollywood has shed a light on the issue more will be done in the workplace to educate and prevent this from happening to any woman or man. However, it should not have to be coming from actresses to once more bring this subject to light.

For the women years ago who cried in silence and those who tried to make changes, hopefully the younger generation will stir change that will obliterate this discussion from the board rooms of major corporations to the mom & pop stores on every street in America.

I hope they continue to tell my story and all of those generations who came before them. You see: I was the woman in the cooler.

Carol Owens is a general assignment reporter for The Meridian Star. Email her at carolowens@themeridianstar.com.