Men accounted for 15.4 percent of the 12,025 sexual-harassment charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2006. That's a new record.

While sexual-harassment charges have steadily declined since 2000--dropping from 15,836 to 12,025 in 2006--men account for an increasingly large share of complainants. In 1997, men comprised 11.6 percent of such complainants. The EEOC doesn't track aggressors' gender, but independent research indicates most of the aggressors are male, according to Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC).

What explains this trend? "Locker-room bullying that enforces codes of masculinity on the job continues to create hostile workplaces," Riki Wilchins, GenderPAC executive director, said in a statement. "As more male employees realize such behavior is now actionable, they are filing suit."

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What's Going On?

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 guards against discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion and national origin, but it includes no protection on the basis of orientation or gender identity or expression.

Gender identity is one's gender self-concept--whether one perceives oneself as a woman or a man. There may be no outward indications of this. This typically is considered a protection for transgender employees. Progressive companies include gender identity and expression in their nondiscrimination statements. To date, 85 Fortune 500 corporations do this, including 14 companies in The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^®, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The 2007 Top 50 survey includes a question about gender identity. Results will be announced March 21. Click here to sign up for the live web cast of the announcement.

Gender expression is an observable phenomenon--how one "expresses" one's gender through speech, mannerisms, clothing, grooming and behavior. For example, a woman may be denied advancement because she is perceived as "too aggressive," or a male employee may be mocked by his coworkers for keeping his fingernails manicured. Anyone--orientation regardless--who fails to conform to traditional social norms regarding masculinity and femininity may be subject to harassment based on his or her gender expression.

In March 1998, the Supreme Court set precedent in anti-harassment law when it ruled in favor of Joseph Oncale, an employee with Sundowner Offshore Services, who alleged he was sexually harassed in the basis of gender. Oncale claimed two supervisors and a third employee mocked him for being slender, blond, long-haired and wearing an earring and threatened him with rape. He complained to his employer to no avail and ultimately quit. The court said male-on-male harassment may violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. What else did it find?

·            Title VII protects both men and women

·            Harassment need not be motivated by "sexual desire" to constitute discrimination on the basis of gender

·            Harassment must be so "objectively offensive" as to create a hostile working environment for the victim

·            Same-sex harassment guidelines also apply if the alleged victim is gay or lesbian. In 2001, the 9th Circuit Court found Azteca Restaurant Enterprises liable for discrimination against a gay-male employee, whose coworkers addressed him using feminine pronouns and mocked him for "walking like a woman"

·            Title VII does not include provisions protecting against all forms of discrimination, such as same-sex harassment

"The federal government and the EEOC are woefully behind corporate America and many state governments in setting policies that protect employees, regardless of whether they fit expectations for masculinity or femininity," said Wilchins.

Discrimination based on gender stereotyping is illegal in 23 states, including California, Ohio, New York and Michigan, and 70 cities also have passed legislation to that effect. To learn more, read GenderPAC's Workplace Fairness report.

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