THE REASONABLE WOMAN STANDARD - A METAANALYTIC REVIEW OF GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTIONS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Courts and legislatures have begun to develop the ''reasonable woman s tandard'' (RWS) as a criterion for deciding sexual harassment trials T his standard rests on assumptions of a ''wide divergence'' between the perceptions of men and women when viewing social-sexual behavior that may be considered harassing. Narrative reviews of the literature on s uch perceptions have suggested that these assumptions are only minimal ly supported. To test these assumptions quantitatively, a meta-analyti c review was conducted that assessed the size, stability and moderator s of gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment. The effec t of the actor's status relative to the target also was evaluated meta -analytically, as one alternative to the importance of gender effects. Results supported the claims of narrative reviews for a relatively sm all gender effect, and draw attention to the status effect. In discuss ing legal implications of the present findings, earlier claims are ech oed suggesting caution in establishing the reasonable woman standard, and one alternative to the RWS, the ''reasonable victim standard,'' is discussed.