Imagine for a moment that you are T. R. Hardy, head of a medium-size government agency regulating insurance companies. You are working quietly at your desk late one Friday afternoon, trying to get some paperwork finished before the weekend. Suddenly, there is a knock at your door, and before you can even say, “Come in,” Frank Johnson, your agency personnel director, rushes into your office. “T. R.,” he says, “we’ve got a problem. I’ve just heard that most of the administrative support staff are threatening to sue us for sex discrimination. They claim that the only reason they’re getting paid less than the maintenance staff is because they’re women. I tried to tell them how silly . . .”