This page intentionally left blank The Politics of Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment, in particular in the workplace, is a controversial topic which often makes headline news. What accounts for the cross- national variation in laws, employer policies, and implementation of policiesdealingwithsexualharassmentintheworkplace?Whywasthe UnitedStatesattheforefrontofpolicyandlegalsolutions,andhowdid this affect politicization of sexual harassment in the European Union and its member states? Exploring the way sexual harassment has becomeaglobalissue,KathrinZippeldrawsontheoriesofcomparative feminist policy, gender and welfare state regimes, and social move- mentstoexplorethedistinctpathsthattheUnitedStates,theEuropean Union,anditsmemberstates,specificallyGermany,haveembarkedon toaddresstheissue.Thiscomparisonprovidesinvaluableinsightsinto theroleoftransnationalmovementsagainstsexualharassmentaswell as into future efforts to implement the European Union Directive of 2002. It also illustrates what policy-makers and employers in the United States can learn from the European Union and its member states’alternativepathstogenderequality. KATHRINS.ZIPPELisAssistantProfessorofSociologyatNortheastern University, Boston. She is also a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies at Harvard University and anAffiliateattheMindadeGunzburg,CenterforEuropeanStudiesat HarvardUniversity. The Politics of Sexual Harassment A Comparative Study of the United States, the European Union, and Germany Kathrin S. Zippel    Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridge,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridg e.org /9780521847162 ©KathrinZippel2006 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexceptionandtotheprovisionof relevantcollectivelicensingagreements,noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplace withoutthewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. 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Contents List of tables page vii Preface ix List of abbreviations xvi 1 Sexual harassmentand genderequality 1 Whycomparesexualharassmentpolitics? 7 Theemergenceofsexualharassmentasasocialproblem 11 Whatexplainsstateresponsivenesstosexualharassment? 17 Alternativeexplanationsforcross-nationalvariationin policyapproaches 21 Pathstolawsagainstsexualharassment 26 Explainingqualitativedifferencesbetweenapproaches tosexualharassment 30 Theimplementationofsexualharassmentlaws 37 Data 39 Chapteroverview 40 2 Equality through litigation: sexualharassment in the United States 42 Earlydiscriminationcourtcases 44 Thesocialmovementcontextforsexualharassmentpolitics inthe1970s 50 Feministactivismandstrategies 53 Feministdiscou rse 55 Feminist–stateinteraction 57 Legalrevolution 63 Legaloutcomes:tracingfeministdiscourse 66 Mediacoverageofhigh-profilecases 71 Conclusion 79 3 Diffusion through supranational actors:sexualharassment in the European Union 82 TheoriginofEUmeasures 86 EUsoft-lawmeasures 95 NewopportunitiesintheEU–the2002EqualTreatment Directive 116 Conclusion 120 v vi Contents 4 The political path of adoption:feminists and the German state 123 ThescandalintheWestGermanGreenparty 126 The1994FederalEmployeeProtectionLaw 140 NewimpulsesfromtheEuropeanUnion: theGermananti-discriminationlaw 154 Conclusion 156 5 “Goodbehaviorversusmobbing”: employer practices in Germany and the United States 158 Workplacepoliciesandawarenessprograms 161 Theinnovators–inpursuitofgenderequality 163 Impactofthelawonimplementation 171 Dynamicsofadoptingpoliciesintheworkplace 180 Unionsandsexualharassment 182 Thetrade-offsofimplementationpaths 185 Conclusion 198 6 Socialmovements, institutions, andthe politicsof sexualharassment 202 Genderedpolicyoutcomes 206 Howinstitutionalarrangementsshapemovements 209 Movementschanginginstitutionalarrangements 214 Thefutureofsexualharassmentpolitics 218 Appendix A: List of cited interviews 224 Appendix B:Data collection 226 References 230 Index 248 Tables 1.1 L aws against sexua l haras sment an d/or releva nt court decis ions page 18 1.2 L egal definitio ns of sexual harassme nt 19 1.3 L abor force par ticipation of wome n an d men in 1960 an d 1990 23 3.1 E uropean Uni on measures agai nst sexual harassme nt 96 3.2 Fi rst member state laws or court rulings 100 5.1 Agenc ies of impleme ntation and enforce ment of sexual har assment policies 182 6.1 Po litics of se xual har assment in the United States an d Germ any 204 vii