FLASHBACK: Gender Inequity Among the Gender Equity Enforcers.

We looked at a random sample of 52 colleges and universities across the country. (Download the data in PDF here.) The sample included public and private institutions, and we attempted to create geographical balance. The only other restriction was that we looked for institutions that have some degree of national recognition. . . .

Findings

We examined 52 institutions. All have Title IX Coordinators as mandated by law for all institutions receiving federal funding.

At 43 of them (82.7 percent), the Title IX Coordinator is a woman. At 9 of the institutions (17.3 percent), the Title IX Coordinator is a man.

In 24 of the 52 institutions, we found lists of staff members beyond the Title IX Coordinator who work on Title IX issues or are listed as responsible for dealing with sexual harassment issues. In these 24 cases, 49 of the additional 67 staff (73.1 percent) are women. All our assignments are on the basis of names and sometimes photographs. Our inability to identify transgender individuals may marginally affect the accuracy of our tabulations. . . .

By this metric, women are substantially overrepresented in the position of Title IX Coordinator. To be “representative of the student body,” approximately 27 to 29 of the 52 Title IX Coordinator positions (~55 percent) should have been held by women. But in our sample, 43 of the positions (83 percent) are held by women. Likewise women appear overrepresented in the staff positions of the relevant campus offices, but the level of overrepresentation was less than for the top positions (73.1 percent of the positions are held by women).

Considering that the overwhelming preponderance of sexual harassment allegations are directed by women at men, the disproportion of women to men in the positions charged with interpreting and enforcing the sexual harassment rules is a legitimate concern.

Things are if anything worse in the corporate world. “In an experiment that involved sending out more than 2,500 resumes either with or without photos of the applicant, economics researchers Bradley Ruffle at Ben-Gurion University and Ze’ev Shtudiner at Ariel University Centre sought to answer the question of whether being good looking could help you find a job. The answer surprised them: Not if you’re a woman. Pretty women faced an uphill struggle to get a chance at a job. The economists hadn’t reckoned on the fact that 93 percent of the HR staffers deciding whether to call in someone for an interview were female. It turns out that HR women (who also tend to be young and single and hence still in the dating market for men) are eager to meet with handsome men. But they’re jealous of beautiful women.”