This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. AEA Papers and Proceedings
  4. May 2024
  5. Navigating Policy Specificity in Academia: The Evolution of Sexual Harassment Policies around #MeToo

AEA Papers and Proceedings

ISSN 2574-0768 (Print) | ISSN 2574-0776 (Online)

Menu

Navigating Policy Specificity in Academia: The Evolution of Sexual Harassment Policies around #MeToo

  • Marina Gertsberg
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 114, May 2024
(pp. 284–91)
Download Full Text PDF

Abstract

I study how universities changed the specificity of their sexual harassment policies around #MeToo. I observe a trend toward increasing policy specificity after #MeToo, particularly in private universities, those with publicized harassment cases, or universities led by presidents from male-dominated academic backgrounds. Additionally, I present suggestive evidence of a link between the hiring of junior female faculty and the adoption of more specific policies in environments where the composition of senior faculty is more male dominated after #MeToo. Overall, my results indicate that universities prioritize clearer guidance for behavior through narrower policies over retaining flexibility with broader policies post-#MeToo.

Citation

Gertsberg, Marina. 2024. "Navigating Policy Specificity in Academia: The Evolution of Sexual Harassment Policies around #MeToo." AEA Papers and Proceedings, 114: 284–91. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20241027

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • I23 Higher Education; Research Institutions
  • I28 Education: Government Policy
  • J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
  • J23 Labor Demand
  • J44 Professional Labor Markets; Occupational Licensing
  • M51 Personnel Economics: Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions