>> seven months ago some very brave women came forward to tell their stories. >> a new day is on the horizon. >> our question, what will it take to make sure this moment matters for all working women. the house keepers, waitresses, workers in small towns and big cities. so many afraid of losing their jobs. hundreds of you wrote back. >> tell them to stop, but you're scared. >> he would follow me. >> grabbing on me. >> tonight we set out to find you and tell your stories. >> here i keep the mace. >> all of us searching for solutions forever. >> i'm not going to turn back.

>> i'm diane sawyer this is a special edition of "20/20." my reality, a hidden america. >> reporter: for six months a torrent of messages from a workplace that may be a kind of ground zero for sexual harassment in america. >> hello, abc news -- >> hello -- >> hello? >> can you tell us your story? >> reporter: restaurant workers we heard from every part of the country asking us to tell their stories even though they're afraid to go on camera. they need their >> reporter: there are 2.5 million waitresses and waiters. they work for a wage less than $3.60. that's a paycheck of $40. tips are their >> reporter: she is a veteran server of 20 years 6 different restaurants since she's still working she asked us not to give

her name and says she's proud of being a waitress, even though, the years take their toll. ♪ if i could go back, that's the first thing i would do i swear that i would ♪ >> i just got home from work, my feet are killing me. my toe hurts, i have to keep wrapped because it swells up. take this off. >> reporter: we calculated she's walked 12,000 miles serving food. more than an nba player would clock in the games throughout his career. ♪ do my best to follow through she's given up buying clothes for herself. she's worked nearly every holiday. her husband's pay covers the mortgage. she says every penny she makes goes for school supplies for her children and medical care and a college fund.

and she knows how we've all laughed through the years about what waitresses do to earn their tips. >> go out there and get those tips. >> oh, wow. >> do you think she thinks i have a beautiful face or is she just saying that? >> well they do work on tips. >> reporter: we know it's almost a kind of handbook wear red lipstick, lean over. but it's one thing to laugh another to live it. >> i'll say, "hi." you know, "welcome. what can i do for you? what can i get for you?" and they'll just say, "show me your tits." would you walk into an office and say that to somebody? >> reporter: and because you need the money you try to smile through comments she say came every week over 20 years. >> i had one guy say to me, "oh i can watch you walk away all night." your wife and children are sitting right next to you. it's a job that it doesn't take education to do. it takes skill, but it doesn't

take education. so i think people perceive us as we're dumb, and we'll take it because we can't do anything else. >> reporter: and it's not just smiling at customers who pay you. it's also trying to make sure you please the manager because the manager controls which servers get the best section in the room. the ones we all want. near the windows. more customers. more tips. and by the way across this country a huge percentage of chefs and managers are male. >> i was told that i would not get a good section if i did not give my manager a [ bleep ]. in the restaurant business if you don't have a good section you don't make money. >> a lot of, of women that work in this business are young, single moms. they don't have any self esteem. and these managers, just they can spot that the second they walk in the door and they just prey on them. >> it was my first real job. >> 18 years old. >> i was 17.

>> take you from behind. >> reporter: remember for one-third of all americans this was our first job maybe the one where our parents thought we'd learn our value as person. >> i started at ihop when i was 16 years old. >> reporter: this young woman said she would meet me to talk. the night before there was some hesitation, but she decided to do it anyway for the hundreds of thousands of young girls, she says, who are just starting out. >> i was a lot tanner back then. and skinnier. >> reporter: seven years later

this is madison now. her first job an ihop franchise in illinois. >> what kind of 16-year-old were you? >> private school, all girls. >> what was the first worrying thing that made you go what? >> comments about your butt or your breasts. it was my first job and i honestly, i didn't know. >> reporter: she was a hostess at the register smiling at customers while she says this is what two of the managers, two men, were doing. >> they would come up behind me and they would just rub up against me. they're so confident, you know, in themselves and that no one was every gonna say anything. >> reporter: she says one of them asked her to run a personal errand with him before the shift started, the teenage girl got in the

car. >> what happened? >> he parked the car and he just unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants and he -- he just pulled out his penis and it was it was already -- like he was, i don't know, it was just ready. and then he grabbed the back of my head and pushed my head down. and i, um, he just kept pushing my head up and down. he said, "well it's not worth it if you're not enjoying it." um, so then i got out of the car and i went into work. >> reporter: afterwards, she says, the franchise owner and those two managers warned the young girl she should say nothing, not only to protect her

job, but to protect their families. she continued to work there for one more year. >> i feel so naïve for even going in the car to begin with. and, i think i blamed myself for a long time and that's why i never talked about it to anyone. because i thought maybe i did something. >> reporter: as we talked i thought i could hear a sound from the next room. >> will you come out? >> reporter: it was her mother sobbing. >> you're strong than i ever was. >> reporter: madison says only after she left that restaurant did she learn there were 10 other women who'd been working right there in the same franchise and had their stories too. they are now filing suit against the franchise and the ihop

corporation. the franchise owner has denied wrongdoing but gave us no further comment. the ihop corporation would not comment on the litigation, but they told us they are very concerned about any question of harassment in the workplace and hold their franchises to very high standards. >> what about solutions. a couple bartenders in new orleans started something called shift change. we also talked to an advocate. the head of the largest organization for restaurant worker rights. >> when you're a woman earning two or three or four dollars, you're living completely off

tips. >> reporter: at a restaurant in new york i talk with some servers. simone says every dollar she receives will go to support her child, pay for housing and make a dent in her student loan. >> so you're living entirely on tips? >> right -- >> reporter: and her shift begins in new york that veteran serve in north carolina is heading to her job. she says she always takes a minute or two to think about the young workers and their high hopes. ♪ don't say it's over ♪ that's the worst news i could hear ♪ >> i just have that little talk with myself that it's going to be a good shift. i'm gonna go in and i'm gonna have a positive attitude. >> reporter: it was all right there in that email she sent us months ago. bring this to light she says so these young girls don't suffer in silence. >> announcer: next times even a grandmother becomes a gladiator. help comes from a surprising ally.

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>> hello. >> hello. >> reporter: a message from a small town right in the center of the country. it said we should reach out to a 26 -- 62-year-old woman who has had to work her whole life and never wanted to rock the boat. >> i was scared to say anything. >> reporter: like millions of moms she says she thought the point was to do the job well, and make sure everyone around her felt good. >> on my way to work i've got about a 30-minute drive, and i pray on the way to work every single day. get me through this day. >> reporter: it's before dawn

when i arrive at pam norman's house in dexter, missouri. >> do you want cream and sugar? >> milk if you have it. >> is that good enough or is that too much? >> that's great. >> reporter: since she was 16 years old she's cleaned houses and worked at local factories making auto parts, and the income from those jobs was all she had to raise her children on her own, and then help her grandkids. when those factories took their jobs to foreign countries, she went to work at a delivery company which had a contract with fed ex. she says she's been commended by fedex for good customer service, and she loves delivering some of the huge load of packages that land on our doorsteps every day. >> i have carried 135 to 140 pound packages. i bear hug it. >> just shear body strength. >> i've had some heavy packages.

>> i love my job. >> i've got a lot of good customers, and they love me, and i love them. >> reporter: she says she's so proud of those young women in hollywood, who had the courage to speak out, like the ones at the award shows. >> oh my gosh. >> we can elicit change. >> secrets and lies. >> time is up. >> i thought it was really cool that the guys stood up with the women, that makes me feel good. >> reporter: she knows their lives are different from hers, but she says she also knows what it is like when someone is trying to humiliate you, bully you, and until two and half years ago, she says that person was her boss, the owner of the company. >> so i am reading the things he said to you, that he was going to knock your red hair off. >> knock your red head off, because i had red hair at the time. >> and shove it up your ass [ bleep ]. >> yes, yes ma'am. >> reporter: she says there is no question people heard him yelling insults. >> people on the other side of the line would hear it. get your blah, blah [ bleep ] over there and get to work. just crazy stuff. some days i would come home and just sit and think can i do this one more day?

and it wasn't even my package. it was the guy next to me, and he said i'm so [ bleep ] glad i don't have to listen to your [ bleep ] whining anymore. well i was crazy by then. >> and then threatened to fire you? >> well, he threatened to fire me several times, oh yeah. >> reporter: and if you doubt what she's saying, here's what some of her coworkers tell us they heard him say. >> the first thing he said was, you're a stupid [ bleep ] that can't do her job. well, i knew that day that she had 100 to 150 stops to do. he would say she shouldn't be here anyway. she's a woman. this is not a woman's job. >> she don't need to do this job. >> it wasn't every day, but it was at least three days a week. he was always, always on her. >> she -- that stupid [ bleep ] [ bleep ] needs to pull her head out of her ass [ bleep ]. >> i don't think he ever has cussed me without an audience. >> reporter: she says years ago she asked her boss to stop talking to her like that, but he seemed to be dismissive. when he sold the company to new management, and remained as her coworker she says when she went to the new management asking for help. they didn't seem to think her problem was serious. >> what gets me, diane, is nobody ever took up for me,

management or my managers. and a lot of people would say well why don't you quit, but around our area, we have hardly anything. i worked in a factory 30 years. >> reporter: and finally she says, a year and half ago, she worked up the nerve to use that fedex corporation workplace hotline number, and tell her story. >> i was terrified. i didn't want to get anybody in trouble believe it or not. i just didn't. >> reporter: she got an email from fedex saying thank you for your call. we are closing this case, and she should take up her complaints with her employer on site. sometimes even a quiet 62-year-old woman has had enough. >> i've worked hard, and i deserve not to be treated like that. i guess that's why i'm doing it. >> reporter: for the first time in her life, filing a lawsuit against fedex and that delivery company, filing both state and federal claims. she asked for monetary damages, and she says an environment where a woman can work with dignity.

>> you have the right to be respected. >> respected, that's a good word, i like to be respected, >> reporter: and sometimes a person and one small act of courage can create a very big reaction. >> even growing up in high school and stuff, people -- i got the nickname of bubba because i was their bubba, like everybody's big brother. >> reporter: dewayne maynard, 6'2 inches tall now works as an officer at a maximum security prison, but for awhile, he loaded packages alongside pam, and he says he is stepping forward now to join her fight, sick of the familiar justifications. it's just guy talk. you know, don't worry about it, no it's not guy talk. >> so you're not surprised by all these stories coming out about how much of this goes on? >> no, i'm not surprised at all. >> reporter: dewayne says now is the moment all across this country for men to make it cleat this is their fight too. >> i think more of them should come out, and i think more men should stand up for what they believe in. >> what do they need to do? >> get a backbone, and show each and every individual the same

respect you'd want shown to yourself. >> my great-grandma and my great-grandpa grew up on a farm in arkansas, a four-room shack, 18 kids. him and her went out every morning, and cut logs by hand, shewed the ties for the railroad. my great-grandmother was out there right beside him doing the same job he was. there's a lot of single women out there, making the same living, raising their kids all by their selves, and they need showed that respect. >> and that's the real america. >> that's the real america. >> reporter: and it's not just dewayne. another of pam's former coworkers sent word to us he's coming forward as well. he asked to us not to show his full face but drove four and half hours to tell us so much of his life he has worked a job where there are men who belittle women. >> it's just, like, an every day thing in life. it's like getting up out of bed, you know? hey, we can talk to her any way we want to. he says he just wishes he had been brave enough to speak up at the time, but he needed that job. >> if it gets out, it gets out. i don't know.

>> you don't need the pressure of your >> right. exactly, that's exactly right. >> reporter: both that man who was once pam's boss and the delivery company refused talk to us, and while state claims have been dismissed, the federal claims are moving forward with fedex saying they are not her employer, but they are committed to a workplace free from harassment. >> can i turn it up? >> yes, you can. ♪ i feel like a woman >> reporter: the people at pam's workplace don't know she's talking to me. so in that frozen dawn she drops us off outside the gate. >> i'm going to pull in up here at this little church. >> reporter: what would you like to say to all the hollywood people we hear from about you here in dexter, missouri? >> well, i mean i'm just a country girl, but everybody's got feelings. i'm just going to tough it out.

i went this far. >> announcer: next on the road in the truck stop. how do you make sure a trucker feels safe when that job is your only shot at the dream? which is breast cancer metastatthat has spreadr, to other parts of her body. she's also taking prescription ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor, which is for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole was significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus letrozole. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are pregnant, breastfeeding, or plan to become pregnant. common side effects include low red blood cell

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relax in an antigravity chair - only $50.99! and save on ninja kitchen electrics! plus get kohl's cash! a spring refresh for your home - kohl's cash for you! kohl's! >> reporter: there is a big story rolling down the highway tonight. a real opportunity at a middle class life. 63,000 job openings.

above average pay. drive by and you can't see who's inside the 17-ton giant or as the truckers say who's at the wheel, "putting the hammer down." >> just the freedom and the power of being behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler driving down the road. >> i love my job. and there's a lot of money. >> oh my gosh. >> sunrise in pennsylvania. sunsets in arizona and new mexico are just out of this world. >> we are the backbone of america. without us, this country stops. everything from food to things that go into a hospital to save your life. at one point or another that has been in a truck. >> reporter: they are tough workers driving 11 hours a day, on ice, traffic, high winds that can destabilize your load. 786 truck deaths in 2016, the highest number of fatalities in any industry.

>> if somebody tells you you can't do something, as a female i will show you that i can do it. >> reporter: one early morning before dawn, outside allentown pennsylvania, i wait for a truck to pull up on the side of the road. inside, someone kind of surprising, stephanie klang, age 59. >> great to meet you. >> great to see you. >> reporter: after 38 years in the rig, no one knows her giant truck better than stephanie. when the sun rises, we stop. she bangs the tires, they speak to her. >> if these were flat, they'd have a really lower sound. and you gotta be flexible. >> reporter: she knows how to inspect the brake shoes, and the 450-horsepower engine. stephanie makes $70,000 a year. she's married to a trucker. and she wants everyone to know that this was her path out of poverty. she grew up on welfare in a

trailer park, but now she owns her own house. though more than half of the year, she lives in her home behind the wheel. about 5 feet by 8 feet, enough to exercise, eat. >> soy burgers, pork chops, chicken. >> reporter: and give a soft berth to fred, the traveling cat. at night she stops at those huge truck stops, 200, 300 trucks. the stores have showers truckers can use for a $10-15 fee. >> indelicate question, porta potty? >> under the bed, yeah. i don't want to get up in the middle of the night and go walking somewhere. >> reporter: stephanie says she is the kind of woman who takes ordinary precautions. she locks up and when she was starting out, she got to drive with her husband as a partner. but as we started traveling through this unfamiliar landscape, we kept hearing a different kind of story.

the industry is mostly mall which means there are 217,000 female truckers and these stories were fear. a woman agreed to meet with us. she said it had to be in secret. she is afraid of losing her job. so we pulled onto a dark side road in the shadows of a huge truck stop. she comes up, 25 years old, anxiously getting in the car. >> look at you, aren't you freezing? >> reporter: in the nervous rush she says she forgot to put on her coat. i gave her mine. but she shows me what she never forgets to carry just in case. >> this stays on me at all times. i go nowhere without it. not a single place. bathroom, shower. it stays with me at all times. >> i also use these as a weapon. >> that's a weapon? >> oh yeah, you put 'em between your fingers. >> reporter: before she became a driver, she cleaned houses and worked at mcdonald's. but always wanted a job that gave her a shot at the middle class life. she was starting out when she says a friendly fellow trucker

tried to assault her in the little bed back behind the wheel. >> he went and closed the curtain and started grabbin' on me, tryin' to kiss on me. pulled off my clothes. like, a constant battle of no, no, get off me, no. i kicked him in his chest and he finally got off me. >> reporter: she says she reported it to the company, and they sent her this letter to "assure" her that they had "conducted an investigation and taken appropriate action." she tells us she's not sure where that man is now. so when she's alone, she not only locks up her rig, she loops the seatbelts through the handles. >> here i keep the mace and the razor. i keep a crowbar down here. and also behind my pillows is a hammer. >> reporter: and she's not the only one with weapons. >> it's a police grade stun gun i'm an ex cop. >> reporter: at a truck stop i learn this is an open is secret. >> do you carry a weapon?

>> no. >>they have weapons in their cars. >> i don't blame them. >> you don't? >> no, i mean i think its dangerous for both, i mean trucks get hijacked. >> reporter: and the more we looked into trucker websites, we saw some troubling posts. we reached out to some of the women. >> pushed me up against my trailer. >> demanding that i do this favor for him or this sexual favor for him. >> i managed to somehow climb into my truck and call 911. >> i think a lot of women keep it to themselves because they're ashamed, they're embarrassed. >> he's like i've never been with a black girl before, that's what he said. >> reporter: this woman is one of the few who agreed to go on camera. she told us her problem was a trainer, who is someone assigned to show you the ropes on the road. trainers can influence whether you get the job. >> saying to me that he hadn't had no [ bleep ] in over six months and if i wanted to pass, that's what i had to do. i said i guess i'll fail because i'm not doing that.

>> reporter: whatever he said, she got her passing grade. another trucker said she was also cornered by a trainer. >> he decided he was going to hold me down, so i kicked him off. i pulled out my box cutter and he ended up leaving me at the struck stop. i really needed the job, they didn't fire him. as far as i knew, they didn't believe me. >> reporter: and when i am walking through a truck stop, one trucker asks if i'd had seen what was just on the news. >> a texas man accused of rape. >> reporter: he was arrested two months ago. it was one of those trainers. who said it was consensual. >> they fired steele after their own internal investigation. >> reporter: so we had a central question. what's happening inside the trucking world? we studied lawsuits, police reports. it seems no one could give us hard data on the true scope of the problem. we wondered with 63,000 available good paying jobs, how can women take those jobs without fear? we sought out ellen voie, head of women in trucking. her organization has helped spur

the federal government to begin a study of the issues in the industry. she thinks it might help if you had a kind of alarm system in a truck that would summon security or police. >> if someone tries to open the door, then the alarm will go off. >> for the security people? >> just like you have in your home. >> cameras in the cab. >> i believe inward facing cameras for training purposes only, and i think that would protect the trainer and the trainee. >> reporter: and we've also been on the phone talking to eight major trucking companies. many of the companies told us they know the fear is real and are concerned about unreported incidents. all of them said they want women truckers. though many of the drivers say they want the companies to do a lot more. >> what about the woman we met in secret in the middle of the night? she said even if fear she's going to try to drive her way to

the middle class dream. i told her i was walking around the i told her i was heading out now to walk around the trucks. >> y'all have protection out here? >> no. >> for real? you don't keep protection around you? >> no. >> oh gosh. >> can't imagine it? >> at all. >> reporter: she slipped out of our car, her knife nearby. heading back to lock herself into her truck. >> announcer: next, they never know what they'll find behind the door. can one small idea make millions of hotel workers feel safe? stall. my video call's lagging. mom? surprise! surprise! hold up. hold up. we got a laggy video call here. you need verizon, the best network for streaming. here. trade ya. okay, people, that's a reset. you want us to surprise her again? yeah, but like in a fun way. like this. all my favorite friends are here. there's tony and diane. like something like that. (avo) get $300 off the samsung galaxy s9+ with no trade-in required.

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[ door knocking ] housekeeping. >> they are so drunk. no clothes. >> the other guys tried to hold me down. >> reporter: there is a silent, invisible force of workers tonight. messages from room cleaners, housekeepers asking us to tell their story. >> every time that i'm going to the room, i say oh my god, what's going to happen today? >> reporter: one and a half million they tell us for everyone who speaks, so many more are just too afraid of getting fired. >> completely naked and told me welcome. >> he took off his robe. >> reporter: over the years did we just think that was the fact of a house keepers wife. >> i had no idea anyone was

here. >> don't worry about it. no big deal. >> reporter: no big deal unless you are the person in that housekeeping uniform. that's esthela. she was a school administrator, but gave up her managerial job in mexico to clean rooms as a legal american worker. >> bye, mami. >> i love you, papi. >> reporter: she just wanted her family to have a wider horizon. >> to find a better future. >> reporter: she also says we have no idea what housekeepers face. telling us about one male guest who asked her for extra towels. >> i ring the bell many times, nobody. i was like he's not here. i get the towels, fold them nicely, put them in the bathroom. he was waiting there. he was nude and masturbated. i said, what! i was, my legs shaking. >> reporter: she says she got a sense some people thought she was over-reacting. >> everybody do it, home, here, you know what, not in my face. the problem is that the guests

think that we are included in the price, the hotel price. >> in the amenities. >> amenities. no, we are workers. >> reporter: and tag a look at the shear intensity of what they do. >> hi. >> reporter: this is jetmira, who shows us the daily athletic challenge. >> we have to do 14 rooms a day and 14 bathrooms. it's very very hard work. >> reporter: it is strain on her back, and the bending, the pushing, the lifting. it's no wonder one medical journal shows housekeepers have a lot more injuries than other service workers. jetmira had once dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but life gave her a family to support. so she puts her talent into cleaning. >> this is for the tiles in the

bathroom to go inside the tiles. >> reporter: she won't leave the room until every inch is exactly right. >> reporter: ever wonder about those perfectly unwrinkled sheets? >> we use water to spray the sheets to remove all the wrinkles. >> ha. >> reporter: yet even jetmira who always follows her training to knock three times, speak loudly, never surprise a guest, admits to being wary of what might be on the other side. >> you have a guest half naked and is just waiting behind the door, and you don't know -- >> and it was not an accident? >> no, it's not an accident. >> reporter: and when we look more deeply into the shadows of this hidden america, we hear the voices of an estimated three to four million domestic workers who clean houses and offices, day and night, by themselves. >> it was just my word over his but it was one of the most humiliating times of my life. one of them told us, we are not

people who are valued. >> reporter: it's a woman in seattle named etelbina who's cleaned houses for 18 years. she makes about $23,000 a year. and has $20 in her bank account. she makes a small lunch and heads out to clean. she phones us because she wants everyone to know she worries about her safety. but if she has to leave a job in fear, she may not get paid. and etelbina says that not paying her bills means not having a home. >> reporter: so is there anything anyone can do? in chicago, millie irons her hotel uniform, gathers up her back brace and her wrist brace she uses because of the strain of her work. she says she's had to escape some hotel guests by locking herself in another room. but she wants us to know that there's a small thing that can make a big difference in her life.

>> i think anyone can help. >> reporter: her union has been fighting to get her a panic button. she's hoping to have it soon. jetmira already has one and says now she feels safe. >> we can put it in our pocket, and nobody can see it. >> right. >> because nobody knows what i'm doin' and i might be playing with my skirt and then i can just press it and nobody knows that. help is on the way. >> and it just vibrates. >> yes. >> so it doesn't signal them. >> no. it just vibrates. >> reporter: we found out it works. >> here? >> reporter: in minutes, the security chief barrels up to the door. >> we just were testing it. >> oh, ok. it worked. >> it worked. thank you. >> you're welcome. >> reporter: downstairs he shows me how the button helps him track a hotel worker. if she hides in a closet, a stairwell, needs help in a room. >> i can track her. so if she goes into another room, we know she went into another room. >> reporter: as of tonight only about 2% of hotel workers have panic buttons.

one afternoon in the midwest, we just pull off the road and walk into a random hotel. we see a cleaning attendant, we ask to speak with her. >> were you at your station? >> i was in a room cleaning. >> reporter: she tells us her manager on duty, a woman, really does care about her safety, but still she has her own strategies. >> i always keep the door open always. >> always. >> and if they go and close the door, i go back and i open the door. >> reporter: she knows other housekeepers think about how to fend for themselves, too. >> mace, carry mace. >> if you feel that it's necessary, take a self-defense class. >> reporter: for some of the hardest workers in this nation a hidden reality. only asking if change is possible, don't leave them behind. >> narrator: solutions, is it time for a new conversation, all of us together? next. my breath. it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats. i went to the er. they said i had afib.

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>> reporter: so where has this seven month cultural explosion brought us tonight? there is kind of a consensus. finally an agreement the problem is real. here's comedian samantha bee.

>> sexual harassment is rampant in every profession imaginable -- medicine, finance, technology, academia, publishing, restaurants. we tried to find one place where women were safe, so we googled "sexual harassment antarctica" and we found this article from five [ bleep ] days ago! >> reporter: so what should be done next? as we traveled the country, we tried to seek out opinions from every vantage point. seattle to times square. older and younger. >> among older generations, maybe they were just like, keep your head down and put up with it but i think our generation is more, "well wait, why do we have to put up with it?" you know? >> are you looking at me? [ laughter ] >> reporter: i dropped in at "marie claire" magazine because they have tried to tackle a new kind of conversation. editor ann fulenwider. >> we can't risk having men leave the conversation because they're fearful of their careers going down in flames. >> reporter: 13 floors down, "esquire" magazine. editor jay fielden.

>> welcome to esquire. it is a men's problem. >> reporter: a number of people in the room seem to think the same things we were hearing across the country -- the next chapter of the movement has to include more men. the legendary cartoonist bob mankoff has an idea -- well, a joke. >> it's a generational problem that will be solved by people like me dying. [ laughter ] don't worry. you're going to win. >> i'd love if a guy said to another guy, in front of me, "man, you can't do that, that's like, not cool." that would make me happy. >> reporter: imagine us all having one conversation about solutions from new york to missouri. the men at bo's diner there also worry that maybe a lot of men are getting fired too fast. >> it should come out. but you should also be proven before you get fired. >> we need to have respect for everybody. >> reporter: and there's another

sobering survey. 71% of us think that the movement that started in hollywood will not make it better for women in the workplace. shonda rhimes has written about the heroes we have yet to hear about -- their unsung victories. and we went to gwyneth paltrow because she was one of the first to say what happened to her with harvey weinstein when she was 22 years old. >> it's time to focus on other industries, and especially these service industries where women are so -- and men, too. but women predominantly are so vulnerable. i think the responsibility is on all of us, really, because we have a real opportunity now to change the way that women are treated. >> reporter: which takes us back to a haunting audio tape we received months ago. a restaurant worker from the middle of the country that asked to be anonymous. >> so i'm sitting inside my car outside a job i've had for years now. and this is the part where i have to psych myself up and say,

"it's gonna be okay. you'll get through it." and i know he's in there because he's always in there. this guy controls my schedule. if i don't' make any money, i don't feed my kids. what do i do? if i raise my hand and say, "me, too," then maybe, maybe that'll help. if more people see that's it not just you, then maybe it'll stop. >> reporter: we stayed in touch with her over all these months. we felt her courage rising. >> the cover of "time," that little clue, the woman's elbow on the table without a face. she was me. she was all of us who are silently getting through. women are finally finding their voices. it's exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. people are watching and

listening and believing. and i feel kind of the electric crackle of change every day and it's -- it's wonderful. >> reporter: and now tonight, she is one of those with an unsung victory. she tells us she worked up the nerve to go to a manager, and tell him what was happening. >> because i said something, two other girls came forward and said something. it took all of us to say it, but it happened. they got rid of him. we did it. [ laughter ] the other guys i work with make jokes now. "are you gonna get me fired, too?" i just look at them and i say, "you know, just treat me like a person." >> announcer: you won't believe which of our women is

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burning, of diabetic nerve pain, these feet... loved every step of fatherhood... and made old cars good as new. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer, so i talked to my doctor and he prescribed lyrica. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. common side effects: dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. now i have less diabetic nerve pain. ask your doctor about lyrica. ♪

protect your pet with the #1 name in flea and tick protection. frontline plus. trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. oikos triple zero greek non-fat yogurt gives me fifteen grams of protein and zero added sugar. whether i'm on the field or off, every decision matters... including how i fuel. oikos. fuel your hustle. >> reporter: and now as we say goodnight, some updates. that north carolina waitress, the veteran of 20 years tells us she's working in a new restaurant with a female manager and she's happy. the domestic worker, etelbina,

is going to washington, dc next week with an advocacy group to meet with congressional leaders about the problems of workers who feel invisible. and tonight we've learned about a new safety device, which can be used by truckers, an alarm button connected to a 24-hour command center. a number of companies say and pam, that delivery driver whose co-worker dwyane stood up for her? well, she says she now has a total of five male co-workers ready to support her too. i'm diane sawyer. thank you for watching. good nielgt. good night.