GROUP GENDER COMPOSITION EFFECTS ON JUDGMENTS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT

This article examines the effects of participant gender, researcher ge nder, and group gender composition (ratio of women to men) on individu al judgments about an ambiguous, hypothetical, sexual harassment griev ance. The participants(116 men and 113 women) served on five-person mo ck hearing boards. A main effect for participant gender was found (p<. 01), with significantly more women (58.4%) making affirmative sexual h arassment judgments than men (35.3%). A significant three-way interact ion (p<.01) revealed that, when led by male researchers, men in groups where they were the numerical minority (3 women/2 men) made significa ntly lower ratings, indicating less bel ief that sexual harassment had occurred (M = 2.83), than those men in groups where they were in the majority (2 women/3 men, M=4.87; 4 men/1 woman, M = 4.88). Ingroup and outgroup behavior observed by Rogers, Hennigan Bowman, and Miller (19 84) is proposed as a possible explanation for these results.