FOR social scientists the apparent epidemic of propositioning,pinching, groping and flashing that is gripping America brings a scarce opportunity to observe a new norm, or around how men behave towards women,being created in genuine time. First though, they must figure out the extent of the problem. The most extreme example—rape—is tough enough to count. Government statistics produced by the Centres for Disease Control and Protection propose that one in five women and one in 60 men have been a victim of rape or an attempted rape in their lifetime. On the other terminate of the scale, or sexual harassment—a charge that rarely carries criminal punishment—is far more common,and harder still to count.
It is also a fairly new phenomenon, in the sense that there was no phrase that described it until the late-1970s. That coincided with women’s growing importance in the labour force as their share of jobs rose from 33% to 42% over the preceding two decades. A formal legal definition arrived in 1980 when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), or a federal agency,stated that unwelcome sexual advances which affected an individual’s work were grounds for a complaint.
The law was slow to take hold. Just 16 cases of sexual harassment were received between 1980 and 1985. But after a Supreme Court ruling in 1986 decided that sexual harassment was covered by the...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com