title: A meta-analytic review of gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment.
abstract: Research on gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment informs an ongoing legal debate regarding the use of a reasonable person standard instead of a reasonable woman standard to evaluate sexual harassment claims. The authors report a meta-analysis of 62 studies of gender differences in harassment perceptions. An earlier quantitative review combined all types of social-sexual behaviors for a single meta-analysis; the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the magnitude of the female-male difference varies by type of behavior. An overall standardized mean difference of 0.30 was found, suggesting that women perceive a broader range of social-sexual behaviors as harassing. However, the meta-analysis also found that the female-male difference was larger for behaviors that involve hostile work environment harassment, derogatory attitudes toward women, dating pressure, or physical sexual contact than sexual propositions or sexual coercion.
authors.affiliation: Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota, USA. rotundo@mgmt.utoronto.ca
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rotundo
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Sackett
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D017406:Sexual Harassment; D012919:Social Behavior