Do People Understand That the Pence Rule Is Illegal at Work?

In a recently published workplace study, 27% of men surveyed admitted that they avoid one-on-one meetings with women at work. The study, conducted by University of Houston professor Leanne E. Atwater, also found that almost 20% of men are reluctant “to hire attractive women” and that more than 21% hesitate to hire women for jobs requiring “close interpersonal interactions with men.” The study didn’t ask if these men, or the women in the survey expressing sympathy for their concerns, understand that these behaviors constitute workplace discrimination and violate Title VII, which bars differential treatment of people in the workplace on, in this case, the basis of sex.

For the past two years, Atwater has been working to understand how people are adapting to #MeToo in the workplace. She and her collaborators first designed a 2018 study, administering two online surveys to men and women working in a cross-section of industries. Their questions allowed participants to answer anonymously and were designed to gauge evolving attitudes and behaviors. They repeated the study a year late and found an even stronger backlash than the 2018 responses would have predicted.

Sixty-three percent of women who answered the 2018 study reported workplace harassment, more than half reported experiencing more than one incident. Only a…