Sexual Harrassment

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...