Meet Gretchen Carlson, trailblazing advocate for victims of sexual assault: the ex-Fox News host sued former CEO Roger Ailes and helped kick off #MeToo, which saw Matt Lauer and Bill O’Reilly resign
- Her story has been depicted in Hollywood – in Showtime’s miniseries The Loudest Voice and in the film Bombshell, where she was played by Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman respectively
- She is the founder of Lift Our Voices, which aims to end non-disclosure agreements and forced arbitration clauses limiting the rights of sexual assault victims in the workplace
Gretchen Carlson, an acclaimed American journalist, made headlines in 2016 after she made sexual harassment allegations against her boss, ex-Fox news CEO Roger Ailes. Even before the #MeToo movement took off, Carlson’s courage led to other women coming forward about Ailes and, in the time since, Carlson has been working to drive policy and legal changes in the US over related laws in the workplace.
Here is Carlson’s story – and her fight to reshape the workplace and end forced arbitration clauses that limit an employee’s rights to sue.
Gretchen Carlson aims to amplify victims’ voices
In 2016, Carlson sued Ailes after she was fired for turning down his sexual advances. She was backed by other women making similar claims and, two weeks later, Ailes was fired from Fox News.
After the experience, Carlson told Variety that she realised many women were being restricted by arbitration clauses in their work contracts.
She founded the Lift Our Voices organisation, which aims to change regulations over non-disclosure agreement (NDA) clauses in the workplace. The mission of the foundation is to “transform the American workplace, making it safer and more equitable for everyone ... [rewriting] the rules to ensure every worker has a voice”, reads a statement on the website.