Social Theory and Legal Argument

Abstract

Amidst the string of defeats and declines of the Reagan years, progress in respect to the justiciation of sexual harassment in the workplace stands out as one of the few beacons of hope in Catharine MacKinnon’s otherwise bleak assessment of ‘fifteen years of trying to change the status of women by legal and every other available means’ (MacKinnon, 1987a, p. 1). Starting with the decision in Williams v Saxbe (413 F.Supp 654 DDC, 1976) ‘ten years of steady progress in the lower courts’ (MacKinnon, op. cit., p. 231, n. 7) were capped by a unanimous confirmation in the US Supreme Court that a broad range of workplace sexual harassment constituted unlawful sex discrimination (Meritor Savings Bank, FSB v Vinson (91 L Ed 2d 49, 106 S.Ct. 2399, 1986)).¹