Sexual Harassment

Just 20 years ago, in most states a woman could not sign an apartment lease, get a credit rating, or apply for a loan unless her husband or a male relative agreed to share the responsibility. Similarly, a 1965 study found that fifty one percent of men though women were "temperamentally unfit for management." There can be no doubt that we have progressed a long way from these ideas in the last three decades. However, it is also unquestionable that women in the work force are still discriminated against, sexually harassed, paid less than men, and suffer from occupational sex segregation and fears of failure as well as fears of success. We will address all of these concerns in this paper, and look at some well-known court cases as illustrations.

Anyone who thinks sex discrimination is a thing of the past only has to ask Muriel Kraszewski or Ann Hopkings to learn differently. Muriel Kraszewski worked for State Farm Insurance Company for twelve years and was the leading candidate for an important promotion. She was denied the promotion because, her employers said, she had no college degree and was too much under the control of her husband. Kraszewski sued the company and won her case, after a nine year battle, in late January 1988. She was given what may be the largest sex-bias award in history: up to two hundreds of millions for 1,113 other female State Farm employees with similar complaints, and $433,000 for Kraszewski her-self.

Ann Hopkings was one of Price Waterhouse's top young executives. She had the best record for getting and maintaining big accounts, but when she came up for a partnership in 1982, she was denied because several male partners had evaluated her as "too macho." They advised her to walk, talk, and dress more femininely. In response, Hopkings quit the firm and filed suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which forbids employers to discriminate on the basis of a person's sex.

In May 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Price Waterhouse had based its decision on unlawful sex stereotyping. The decision shifted the legal burden of proof to the employer, which should make it easier for employees to win future Title VII cases. Experts say that the decision's main affect may be to force companies to eliminate bias in the people making important personnel decisions for them. The decision was a landmark for anti-discrimination,