The Problem of Women at Work: The Emergence and Transformation of Sexual Harassment as a Social Problem

Abstract: We study the evolving narrative construction of workplace sexual harassment as a social problem, analyzing 4,698 newspaper articles published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post between 1972 and 2024. Four narrative voices dominated the coverage: women’s voices (individually and collectively), organizational voices, governmental voices (courts, agencies, and politicians), and media commentators. Narrative analysis revealed how actors engaged in naming (defining the problem), blaming (assigning responsibility), and claiming (allocating liability and recourse) as they competed for ownership of the problem, with media commentary framing these activities through moral scaffolding. Narrative ownership shifted over time: women initially defined sexual harassment as sex discrimination rooted in gendered power imbalances; governmental voices later secured ownership through legal institutionalization; and organizations diffused blame and responsibility. Women’s voices recaptured narrative ownership during #MeToo, before institutional entrenchment and governmental voices deemed sexual harassment unimportant, inherent to the problem of women at work.

Keywords: Sexual harassment, Social problems, Narrative construction, Media framing, Newspaper data