Christopher

This appeal presents the question whether harassing conduct directed at female employees may violate Title VII in the absence of direct evidence that the harassing conduct or the intent that produced it was because of sex. We hold that offensive conduct that is not facially sex-specific nonetheless may violate Title VII if there is sufficient circumstantial evidence of qualitative and quantitative differences in the harassment suffered by female and male employees.

/. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) brings this action against the National Education Association-Alaska (“NEA-Alaska”) and the National Education Association (“NEA” or “NEA national”) for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.) (“Title VII”).

Three female employees filed EEOC charges against NEA-Alaska in April 2000. The EEOC filed its action against NEA-Alaska in July 2001, alleging that the organization created a sex-based hostile work environment for all three employees and that it constructively discharged one of them. All three employees subsequently intervened in this action. On June 28, 2002, plaintiffs filed a joint motion to…