Which surveyed two male-dominated work environments – the armed forces and, you guessed it, the legal profession.

The study, carried out by researchers in the US at the University of Michigan, found that nine in ten women have suffered some form of ‘gender harrassment’ in the workplace. ‘Gender harrassment’ is a broad term which includes ‘verbal and nonverbal behaviors that convey insulting, hostile and degrading attitudes to women’ but where actual sexual advances are absent. This sort of behaviour is believed to create a ‘hostile environment that disadvantages women’ in the workplace.

At the sharp end, although few women experienced blatant sexual harrassment such as groping or other obviously lewd behaviour, one in ten women were promised promotion or better treatment if they were ‘sexually cooperative’.

In the legal profession, gender-harassed women reported lower satisfaction with professional relationships and higher job stress. (via Science Daily)

Springer’s journal of Law and Human Behavior is “a multidisciplinary forum for the publication of articles and discussions of issues arising from the relationships between human behavior and the law, the legal system, and the legal process.”