A study assessed whether space violations of women occur even when women do not yield their space, and further examined who violated the space of women when it was violated. Two persons of average height and weight (either a male-male, male-female, or female-female combination) were positioned across from each other in a busy hallway such that there was adequate space to go around or between them, and observers noted whether approaching students using the hallway walked around or through the dyad. The proxemic behavior of 1081 persons was observed over a period of four weeks. In general, more people went around the dyads than between the dyads, however, when space violations alone were considered (i.e., those times that people went in between the talking dyad), the results indicated that both men and women were more likely to go through two women rather than a man and a woman or two men. These findings demonstrate that when people violate space the space they violate will be women's (even when women do not explicitly yield their territory), and suggest that women are seen as having a lower status, every by other women. (Author)