Judging from more than 950 comments posted on Facebook after The New York Times asked women for their assessment of Mr. O’Reilly’s departure, many doubted that this heralded a new era for Fox or would encourage more women to report sexual harassment.

“I’m glad pressure was put on the network but no... this does not show men in power will be held accountable. It shows that Fox was losing money,” Elizabeth Gibbons Woodhouse wrote. “This was a financial decision. Accountability would have been thoroughly investigating the multiple complaints, not just allowing O’Reilly to throw money at them to keep them quiet.”

And Mairead O’Grady commented: “The issue of sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace will not be resolved until we have a diverse work force — at all levels of the corporate world. There is little hope that claims of mistreatment will be handled fairly with the astonishing imbalance of power between men and women at work. When you know that reporting an issue puts your career at risk, exposes you to possible retaliatory actions, and potentially could sideline you at that organization you think twice about whether it’s worth it.”

Some women defended Mr. O’Reilly, sensing a liberal conspiracy and saying the accusations were unproven. Others said they remained discouraged that a man who boasted of forcing himself on women had been elected president. “This isn’t really a win for women,” said Lynn Thompson. “This was done to satisfy advertisers, not because it was the right thing to do. Men in powerful positions will continue to taken advantage of women and women will be seen as liars if they report it. We elected a man who admitted to assaulting women and much of the public doesn’t care. Kind of speaks for itself.”

Many women recounted their own experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace.

“I’m in the ad industry, and things haven’t changed all that much,” Michelle Barlow Dickens wrote. “It’s still Mad Men, only a little more covert.” Patty Ryan told of witnessing a judge press women against a wall and stick his tongue in their mouths.

Fox was forced to act in the end because its treatment of women was exacting a cost it could not bear. The more than 50 advertisers who pulled ads did so, they said, because they could not afford to alienate women and their considerable purchasing power. It was bad for their brands to be associated with Mr. O’Reilly. 21st Century Fox’s stock price fell 6 percent during the O’Reilly scandal. It’s not that Fox’s revenue suffered — Mr. O’Reilly’s viewers remained loyal and many advertisers redirected their ads to other Fox shows — but investors feared longer term reputational damage.