Opinion for the Court filed by District Judge JOYCE HENS GREEN.
Dissenting opinion filed by Circuit Judge WILLIAMS.
JOYCE HENS GREEN, District Judge:
In Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984), the Supreme Court ruled for the first time that decisions concerning advancement to partnership are governed by Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, et seq., and must therefore be made without regard to race, sex, religion, or national origin. This case, the first challenge to a partnership denial to reach us since Hishon, presents several novel and important questions that arise from the application of federal employment discrimination law to collegial bodies such as partnerships. Following a five-day trial, the District Court found that Price Water-house, one of the nation’s largest accounting firms, had discriminated against plaintiff Ann Hopkins by permitting stereotypical attitudes towards women to play a significant, though unquantifiable, role in its decision not to invite her to become a partner. The court concluded that Hopkins was entitled to an award of backpay from the date she should have been elected partner until the date of her resignation seven months later, but ruled that, notwithstanding the parties’ agreement to defer consideration of damages until after a decision on the issue of liability, Hopkins’ failure to present any evidence as to the amount of compensation she was due barred her from recovering all damages save attorneys’ fees. The trial court further found that Hopkins had failed to establish that she had been constructively discharged following Price Waterhouse’s failure to make her a partner, and thus declined to award her backpay for the period subsequent to her resignation or to order Price Waterhouse to invite her to become a partner. The parties cross-appealed.1 For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the District Court’s determination of liability, but reverse its judgment as to the appropriate relief and remand for further proceedings on this issue.
I.
A. Background
Price Waterhouse is a professional partnership specializing in auditing, tax, and management consulting services, primarily for private corporations and government agencies. The firm is known colloquially as one of the nation’s “big eight” accounting firms; at the time this suit commenced, it had 662 partners working in 90 offices across the country. Price Waterhouse is managed by a Senior Partner and Policy Board elected by all the partners. New partners are regularly drawn from the ranks of the firm’s senior managers through a formal nomination and review process that culminates in a partnership-wide vote. There are no formal limits on the number of persons who may be made partners in any one year. Hopkins v. Price Waterhouse, 618 F.Supp. 1109, 1111 (D.D.C.1985).
Plaintiff joined Price Waterhouse as a manager in August 1978 and began working in its Office of Government Services (OGS) in Washington, D.C. She specialized in preparing, securing, and managing contracts for large-scale computer-based systems designed specifically for government agencies. Plaintiff had previously worked at Touche Ross, another large accounting firm where her husband was also employed, but left because that firm’s rules prohibited both husband and wife from being considered for partnership. Shortly after her departure, plaintiff’s husband became a partner at Touche Ross. In order to hire her, Price Waterhouse waived one of its own rules that barred employment of anyone whose spouse was a partner in a competing firm. In 1981, however, the firm advised plaintiff that, because of her [462]*462husband’s position at Touche Ross, she would not be eligible for partnership at Price Waterhouse. She threatened to resign and the matter was resolved only because Hopkins’ husband left Touche Ross to set up his own consulting firm. Plaintiff was nominated for partnership a year later, in August 1982.
There is no dispute that Hopkins was qualified for partnership consideration. She was exceptionally successful in garnering business for the firm, winning contract awards with the Department of State and the Farmers Home Administration worth an estimated $34 to $44 million to Price Waterhouse. The firm’s Senior Partner, Joseph Connor, characterized one of these contracts — a world-wide computerized system capable of handling all State Department financial transactions — as a “leading credential” that enabled the firm to win similar business from other federal agencies. The District Court expressly found that none of the other candidates considered for partnership in 1983 had generated more business for Price Waterhouse than plaintiff. 618 F.Supp. at 1112. In addition, she billed more hours than any of the other candidates under consideration.
The partners in OGS formally initiated the admission process for plaintiff by nominating her for partnership in August 1982. In support of her candidacy OGS submitted a flattering appraisal of her work, highlighting her “outstanding performance” in connection with the State Department project, and strongly urging her admission to the partnership. The appraisal stated in part:
In her five years with the firm, she has demonstrated conclusively that she has the capacity and capability to contribute significantly to the growth and profitability of the firm. Her strong character, independence and integrity are well recognized by her clients and peers. Ms. Hopkins has outstanding oral and written communication skills. She has a good business sense, and ability to grasp and handle quickly the most complex issues, and strong leadership qualities.
Plaintiff’s Exhibit ("Pl.Ex.”) 15.
After a local office such as OGS nominates one of its senior managers for partnership, Price Waterhouse circulates the nominee’s name and the accompanying appraisal of his or her work to all partners, who are invited to comment on the candidate. Those partners who have worked closely or extensively with a candidate submit “long-form” evaluations, while those whose contact has been more limited submit “short-forms.” Partners are asked to rank individual nominees against all other candidates in 48 categories; to indicate whether the individual should be admitted, rejected, or placed on hold; and to provide written comments explaining their recommendations. The Admissions Committee, an arm of the firm’s Policy Board, reviews each candidate’s personnel file and occasionally interviews individual partners who have commented on a given candidate. The Committee then prepares a summary of the evaluations and makes its own recommendations to the Policy Board, providing a short written statement explaining any recommendation to hold or reject a candidate. The Policy Board in turn votes on whether the candidate should be included on the partnership ballot, held for reconsideration, or rejected. The Board can override the recommendations of the Admissions Committee and evaluates candidates not only on the basis of their individual merit, but also in terms of the firm’s business needs. Those candidates who receive the Board’s approval are placed on the ballot for a partnership-wide election; those who are not included are informed of the Board’s reasons for rejecting or postponing their candidacies.
Plaintiff was the only woman among the 88 candidates nominated for partnership in August 1982. Of these, 47 were invited to join the partnership, 21 were rejected outright, and the remaining 20 — including plaintiff — -were placed on hold. Seventeen of the 19 men placed on hold were renominated the following year (the other two had been placed on two-year holds), and of these, 15 were ultimately admitted. OGS, however, did not renominate plaintiff. Of the thirty-two partners who submitted evaluations and comments on her candidacy, [463]*463fully a fourth opposed her admission; another three partners recommended that she be held for reconsideration; and eight others stated that they lacked a sufficient basis upon which to form an opinion. 618 F.Supp. at 1113. Many of the comments from evaluating partners centered on Hopkins’ apparent difficulties with staff, and both supporters and opponents of her candidacy characterized her as sometimes overly aggressive, unduly harsh, impatient with staff, and very demanding.
A number of these complaints about plaintiffs lack of “interpersonal skills” were couched in terms of her sex. One critic suggested that Hopkins needed to take a “course at charm school.” Pl.Ex. 21. A supporter sought to excuse her behavior by speculating that “she may have overcompensated for being a woman.” Defendant’s Exhibit (“Def.Ex.”) 31. A member of the Admissions Committee investigated a reference in Hopkins’ personnel file about her use of profanity and testified that “several ... partners” regarded her language as “one of the negatives.” Transcript of Trial (“Tr.”) 321. One supporter felt compelled to defend her on this subject, arguing that “[m]any male partners are worse than Ann (language and tough personality)”; this partner believed that the concerns over her profanity arose only “because she is a lady using foul language.” Id. Another supporter opined that Hopkins initially came across as "macho,” but concluded that “if you get around the personality thing she’s at the top of the list or way above average.” Still another supporter wrote that plaintiff “had matured from a tough-talking, somewhat masculine hard-nosed mgr. to an authoritative, formidable, but much more appealing lady partner candidate.” Pl.Ex. 21.
Due to the large number of comments concerning her interpersonal skills, the Admissions Committee recommended that Hopkins’ candidacy be held for at least a year. The Policy Board concurred, noting that although plaintiff had “a lot of talent,” she needed “social grace.” Pl.Ex. 20. Shortly thereafter, plaintiff met with the firm's Senior Partner, Joseph Connor, to discuss the Board’s decision, and he urged her to undertake a Quality Control Review, which would allow her to work with more partners, demonstrate her skills, and allay concerns about her ability to deal with staff. Prior to that meeting, Thomas Beyer, the head partner at OGS and perhaps Hopkins’ most fervent supporter, discussed with her problems the Board had identified with her candidacy and the steps she might take to enhance her partnership prospects. Beyer advised her “to walk more femininely, talk more femininely, dress more femininely, wear make-up, have her hair styled, and wear jewelry.” 618 F.Supp. at 1117.
Four months after she embarked on her Quality Control Review, however, the partners at OGS decided not to propose Hopkins for partnership. During the year following her initial nomination, Hopkins lost the support of two of these partners, who had come to strongly oppose her candidacy. Although candidates have on occasion been admitted despite the opposition of partners in their home offices, plaintiff’s supporters at OGS felt that in view of the strong criticisms her earlier nomination had drawn, she could not possibly become a partner without the unanimous endorsement of her local office partners. Beyer advised plaintiff that it was very unlikely that she would ever be admitted to the partnership. He told her that she could remain at Price Waterhouse as a senior manager, but one of the OGS partners who opposed her candidacy advised her to resign. That advice was consistent with the regular practice and custom at Price Wa-terhouse, where candidates rejected for partnership routinely left. Hopkins resigned in January 1984 and set up her own consulting firm.
B. Proceedings Below
The District Court had no difficulty finding that plaintiff had presented a prima facie case of sex discrimination: she was a qualified partnership candidate, she was rejected, and Price Waterhouse continued to seek partners with her qualifications. 618 F.Supp. at 1113 (citing Cooper v. Federal Reserve Bank, 467 U.S. 867, 876, 104 S.Ct. 2794, 2799, 81 L.Ed,2d 718 (1984); [464]*464Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248, 253, 101 S.Ct. 1089, 1093, 67 L.Ed.2d 207 (1981)). The court went on to find, however, that Price Waterhouse’s consideration of Hopkins’, or any other candidate’s, interpersonal skills was a legitimate business inquiry, and that plaintiff’s management style “provided ample justification for the complaints that formed the basis of the Policy Board’s decision.” 618 F.Supp. at 1114. The trial judge found that a number of the criticisms leveled at Hopkins because of her treatment of staff were in fact genuine. Id. In addition, the trial court concluded that the opposition of the two OGS partners to Hopkins’ renomination was likewise based on genuine reservations about her management style rather than any animosity towards her because of her sex. Id. Finally, the District Court rejected Hopkins’ contention that Price Waterhouse treated her differently than male candidates with abrasive or aggressive personalities. The trial judge concluded that the firm had legitimate, nondiscriminatory business reasons for admitting two such candidates identified by plaintiff, and dismissed evidence she proffered as to the two other male candidates as “fragmentary” and otherwise insufficient proof of disparate treatment.2 Id. at 1115 & n. 6.
The trial court’s finding of liability rested instead on its determination that Price Waterhouse had discriminated against Hopkins by filtering her partnership candidacy through a system that gave great weight to negative comments and recommendations, despite evidence that those comments reflected unconscious sexual stereotyping by male evaluators based on outmoded attitudes towards women. Id. at 1118-19. The District Court found that comments based on sexual stereotypes were “part of the regular fodder of partnership evaluations,” yet Price Waterhouse took no steps to discourage sexism, to heighten the sensitivity of partners to sexist attitudes, or to investigate negative comments to ascertain whether they were the product of such attitudes. Id. at 1119. The trial judge acknowledged that it was impossible to measure the precise role sexual stereotyping had played in the Policy Board’s decision to deny Hopkins partnership, but found that the decision was in fact tainted by discriminatory evaluations that resulted from the firm’s failure to root evident sexism from its evaluation system. Accordingly, the District Court determined that Price Waterhouse bore the burden of demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence that its decision would have been the same regardless of such discrimination — a showing the firm was unable to make.
Having concluded that Hopkins was a victim of sexual discrimination, the trial judge went on to find that she was nevertheless not entitled to an order directing the firm to make her a partner. Applying the doctrine of constructive discharge to the professional partnership setting, the District Court determined that Hopkins’ departure from Price Waterhouse was the result of neither intolerable working conditions nor any aggravating circumstances such as a firm history of discrimination or undue humiliation. Id. at 1121. Although one OGS partner suggested to plaintiff that she resign, the firm offered to retain her as a senior manager and several partners encouraged her to accept this option. Aside from her failed partnership bid, Hopkins had enjoyed an amicable and otherwise quite successful five years of employment with the firm. The trial court concluded that a discriminatory denial of partnership, without more, did not amount to a showing of constructive discharge and thus did.not warrant the equitable relief Hopkins sought. Accordingly, the court denied her both backpay from the date of her resignation and a decree requiring that she [465]*465be invited to join Price Waterhouse as a partner. The District Court also ruled that although plaintiff had demonstrated her entitlement to an award of backpay compensating her at the partnership salary for the period between her partnership denial and her resignation, she had failed to offer any evidence as to the amount of compensation she should receive. The trial judge acknowledged that this failure was due solely to a stipulation the parties filed in which they agreed to defer resolution of the back-pay issue until after the court rendered its liability determination; because that stipulation was filed without the court’s knowledge or approval, however, he deemed the issue closed and refused to accept any post-trial evidence on the question. The court therefore awarded Hopkins judgment in the amount of her attorneys’ fees only.
The respective cross-appeals followed.
II.
A. The Liability Determination
Price Waterhouse mounts two attacks on the District Court’s determination that it discriminated against Hopkins in violation of Title VII. First, the firm contends that there is no competent evidence supporting the lower court’s finding that impermissible sexual stereotyping infected the partnership evaluation system. Second, Price Waterhouse argues that even if this finding is upheld, the liability determination still cannot stand because the lower court expressly found that Hopkins’ behavior provided “ample justification” for the complaints about her lack of interpersonal skills, and that these complaints in turn constituted a legitimate, nondiscriminatory business reason for placing Hopkins’ candidacy on hold. Thus, the firm submits that even if the evaluation process has not been purged of sexist attitudes, those attitudes were not responsible for the decision to hold Hopkins for further consideration, and therefore Hopkins has failed to establish any causation between the partnership’s inappropriate treatment of female candidates and her own unsuccessful candidacy.
1. The District Court’s Findings
As this court recently emphasized, appellate review of District Court findings in Title VII cases is necessarily narrow. Underwood v. District of Columbia Armory Board, 816 F.2d 769, 774 (D.C.Cir.1987). In order to overturn a determination of liability, we must conclude that it is “ ‘based on an utterly implausible account of the evidence.’ ” Id. (quoting Bishopp v. District of Columbia, 788 F.2d 781, 786 (D.C.Cir.1986)). Faced with this formidable hurdle, Price Waterhouse eschews any intention of re-arguing its case on appeal: it purports to urge reversal not on the ground that the lower court’s view of the evidence is implausible, but on the theory that there simply is no evidence supporting the District Court’s finding of discrimination. Notwithstanding its disclaimer, however, defendant’s attempt to demonstrate the absence of competent evidence proves, upon closer inspection, to be nothing more than a thinly disguised quarrel with the District Court over appropriate inferences to be drawn from the evidence before it. Given our narrow scope of review, and the reasonableness of the District Court’s findings, we must reject that attempt.
In concluding that Price Water-house’s partnership evaluation system was infected by impermissible, sexually stereotyped attitudes toward women, the District Court relied on three principal pieces of evidence: (1) the comments partners made about Hopkins herself; (2) the testimony of Dr. Susan Fiske, a social psychologist and an expert in the field of stereotyping, who identified some of these comments as the product of sexual stereotyping; and (3) comments made about other women candidates in previous years. Defendant attempts to dismiss this evidence by isolating various comments and arguing that they are either irrelevant, sex-neutral, or otherwise not probative of discrimination. This piecemeal attack on the District Court’s finding, however, ignores the fact that we must view the evidence in its entirety, and is in any event unequal to the task of demonstrating that the court’s finding is clearly erroneous. Anderson v. City of [466]*466Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1512, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985).
Price Waterhouse argues, for example, that the District Court could not have drawn any adverse inferences about the firm’s evaluation system from statements describing Hopkins as “macho,” “a somewhat masculine hard-nosed mgr,” or a manager who “overcompensated for being a woman,” because all these comments were made by those favoring her candidacy. That Hopkins’ supporters made these statements, however, in no way undermines the District Court’s finding that they reflect stereotypical thinking on the part of the commenters. Stereotypical attitudes that sometimes work to the advantage of women, such as the once unchallenged assumption that mothers are inherently superior parents and thus nearly always entitled to custody of children in divorce actions, are no less the product of archaic thinking than those attitudes that disadvantage women. The comments of Hopkins' supporters may or may not have harmed her candidacy,3 but they are most certainly competent evidence that sexist attitudes were present in the partnership selection process. Price Waterhouse also suggests that one partner’s comment that Hopkins needed to take a “course at charm school” is not sex-indicative, because charm is a quality admired both in men and women. This argument borders on the facetious. Charm is indeed an attribute prized in men and women alike, but charm schools are and always have been exclusively female institutions.4 The sexist import of the comment is patently clear, particularly as charm schools are inextricably linked, both historically and philosophically, with the antiquated notion that women should devote their energies to social and cultural affairs rather than business or professional endeavors. See note 4 supra.
Perhaps most telling is Price Water-house’s desperate attempt to erase from the record Thomas Beyer’s advice to Hopkins that she should “walk more femininely, talk more femininely, dress more femininely, wear make-up, have her hair styled, and wear jewelry.” 618 F.Supp. at 1117. The firm argues that the District Court erred in stating that Beyer was “responsible for telling her what problems the Policy Board had identified with her candidacy.” Id. Price Waterhouse claims that this task officially fell to the firm’s Senior Partner, Joseph Connor, who made no reference to Hopkins’ femininity in his meeting with her following the Policy Board’s decision to hold her candidacy. This contention not only rests on the artificial assumption that Beyer, the chief partner in Price Waterhouse’s Washington office and Hopkins’ leading supporter, would be kept completely in the dark as to the Policy Board’s views on her candidacy, but is directly contradicted by the testimony of Roger Marcellin, a member of both the Policy Board and the Admissions Commitee at the time of Hopkins’ nomination, who stated that he had “no doubt that Tom Beyer would be the one that would have to talk with her [Hopkins]. He knew exactly where the problems were.” Tr. 316. Beyer’s advice, of course, speaks for itself. [467]*467That he ardently supported her candidacy and had every motive to give her what he hoped would be helpful counsel simply underscores the genuineness of his belief that Hopkins’ failure to behave in a manner apparently expected of a woman by Price Waterhouse partners had damaged her partnership bid.
The District Court also rested its finding of discriminatory sexual stereotyping on the testimony of Dr. Fiske, an expert in the field of stereotyping, who stated that the disappointed stereotypical expectations of male partners played a “major determining role” in the firm’s decision not to make Hopkins a partner. Tr. 545. Disclaiming any intention of denigrating Dr. Fiske’s field of expertise, Price Waterhouse attempts to dismiss this evidence as “sheer speculation” of “no evidentiary value.” Brief for Appellee-Cross Appellant at 31. This is so, the firm contends, because Dr. Fiske failed to compare the stereotypical comments made about Hopkins with similar comments made about male candidates; she lacked information concerning the authors of these comments; and she had never met Hopkins and had no idea what her conduct or behavior was like. However useful Price Waterhouse might believe this information to be, Dr. Fiske made clear that experts in her field do not require such data in order to determine whether stereotyping is occurring in a given employment context. Dr. Fiske testified that she was an expert at evaluating written comments, that reliance on such written documents was a standard practice in her field, and that she did not need to observe Hopkins or meet her critics because she had the entire universe of reactions to Hopkins before her, as well as comments the same partners made about male candidates. Tr. 595-96. This information, along with other “convergent indicators” of stereotyping— such as the extremely small number of female partners at the firm; the absence of any other female candidates among the 88 nominated along with Hopkins; the exaggerated and extremely intense negative reactions of Hopkins’ critics to behavior that supporters perceived as positive; the ambiguous criteria the firm used to evaluate a candidate’s personal qualities; the absence of complaints from Hopkins’ clients; and the positive assessments of Hopkins in areas where performance could be measured objectively, (e.g., business generation) — taken together provided Dr. Fiske a sufficient basis from which to draw her conclusions that Hopkins was the victim of stereotyping. To the extent that Price Waterhouse believes Dr. Fiske lacked necessary information, the firm is in fact quarreling with her field of expertise and the methodology it employs. Defendant, however, failed to challenge the validity of Dr. Fiske’s discipline at trial and disavows any such challenge here. We cannot find any error in the District Court’s decision to credit Dr. Fiske’s testimony as that of an expert, or the decision to rely on that testimony as evidence of sexual stereotyping at Price Waterhouse.
Finally, the firm challenges the District Court’s reliance on comments partners made about other female candidates, contending that the trial judge intentionally misconstrued these statements in order to find in them evidence of stereotypical thinking. One partner stated that he could never vote for a female partner. One successful female candidate was criticized for being a “women’s libber,” and two other unsuccessful women were characterized as curt, brusque, and abrasive; “Ma Barker”; and “one of the boys.” 618 F.Supp. at 1117. It is of course impossible to misconstrue the sentiment behind a categorical opposition to all female partnership candidates. Despite the fact that the firm took no steps to admonish this partner for his statement, which he made just one year before Hopkins came up for consideration, Price Waterhouse suggests the comment is essentially irrelevant because it was obviously ignored by the Policy Board and was “of no further concern ... by the time that plaintiff was proposed.” Brief for Appel-lee-Cross Appellant at 37. The firm also argues that the comment about one candidate being a “women’s libber” cannot be viewed as evidence of discrimination because the woman in question became a partner; Price Waterhouse similarly at[468]*468tempts to dismiss the references describing one woman as “Ma Barker” and “one of the boys” as comments utterly devoid of stereotypical attitudes, reflecting nothing more than the author’s view that this particular woman was a “hick” who socialized too often with non-professional staff. These arguments miss the mark. The District Court did not purport to find that any of these comments determined the fate of the women in question, reflected the views of the Policy Board itself, or had a direct impact on plaintiff's candidacy. Rather, the court relied on them as evidence that partners at Price Waterhouse often evaluated female candidates in terms of their sex. We find nothing erroneous in such reliance; on the contrary, we believe it is eminently correct.
In sum, there is ample support in the record for the District Court’s finding that the partnership selection process at Price Waterhouse was impermissibly infected by stereotypical attitudes towards female candidates.
2. The District Court’s Legal Theory
Price Waterhouse also challenges the liability determination below on two purely legal grounds. First, it contends that Hopkins did not prove “intentional” discrimination on the part of the Policy Board, but only “unconscious” sexual stereotyping by unidentified partners who participated in the selection process. Second, the firm argues that even if such a showing is sufficient to satisfy Title VII’s intent requirement, Hopkins did not prove, and the District Court did not find, that this unconscious stereotyping, or the firm’s conscious failure to prevent it, actually caused her partnership denial.
Hopkins claimed, and the District Court found, that Price Waterhouse treated her differently than the 87 male candidates nominated in 1982 by subjecting her candidacy to an evaluation system that the firm knew or should have known allowed sexual stereotypes to influence decisions on partnership selection. She made a substantial showing of the role such sexual stereotypes played in the selection system generally and in her own candidacy in particular — a showing made all the more remarkable by the educational background and sophistication of the participants in that system. Price Waterhouse tries to escape liability for this sex-based disparate treatment by arguing that it was not “intentional” — the individual partners who evaluated plaintiff on the basis of stereotypes did so unconsciously, and plaintiff failed to show the extent to which this stereotyping influenced the ultimate decisionmaker in this case, the Policy Board. In so arguing, defendant seeks refuge in the collegial nature of its decisionmaking body, in the subtle and insidious nature of the discrimination involved, and in a mistaken notion of the intent requirement in disparate treatment cases.
As the Supreme Court noted a decade ago in International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977), disparate treatment is a type of intentional discrimination whereby an “employer simply treats some people less favorably than others because of their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Proof of discriminatory motive is crucial, although it can in some situations be inferred from the mere fact of differences in treatment.” Id. at 335-36 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. at 1854 n. 15 (emphasis added). Title VII is, of course, remedial rather than punitive in nature. It is designed to remove “ ‘artificial, arbitrary and unnecessary barriers to employment where those barriers operate invidiously to discriminate on the basis of racial or other impermissible classification.’ ” McDonnell Douglas Cory. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, 800-01, 93 S.Ct. 1817, 1823, 36 L.Ed.2d 668 (1973) (quoting Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424, 431, 91 S.Ct. 849, 853, 28 L.Ed.2d 158 (1971)). In keeping with this purpose, the Supreme Court has never applied the concept of intent so as to excuse an artificial, gender-based employment barrier simply because the employer involved did not harbor the requisite degree of ill-will towards the person in question. As the evidentiary framework established in McDonnell Douglas makes clear, the re[469]*469quirements of discriminatory motive in disparate treatment cases does not function as a “state of mind” element, but as a method of ensuring that only those arbitrary or artificial employment barriers that are related to an employee or applicant’s race, sex, religion, or national origin are eliminated.5 Nor is this surprising, as unwitting or ingrained bias is no less injurious or worthy of eradication than blatant or calculated discrimination.6 Hopkins demonstrated, and the District Court found, that she was treated less favorably than male candidates because of her sex. This is sufficient to establish discriminatory motive; the fact that some or all of the partners at Price Waterhouse may have been unaware of that motivation, even within themselves, neither alters the fact of its existence nor excuses it. See Lynn v. Regents of the University of California, 656 F.2d 1337, 1343 n. 5 (9th Cir.1981) (“when plaintiffs establish that decisions regarding ... employment are motivated by discriminatory attitudes relating to race or sex, or are rooted in concepts which reflect such attitudes, however subtly, courts are obligated to afford the relief provided by Title VII”), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 823, 103 S.Ct. 53, 74 L.Ed.2d 59 (1982).
Price Waterhouse nevertheless argues that Hopkins has failed to establish a discriminatory motive on the part of the actual decisionmaker in this case, the Policy Board, because she has not demonstrated the exact impact that stereotyped comments had on the Board’s ultimate decision. The faulty logic upon which this contention is premised, however, would, if accepted, place an enormous, perhaps insurmountable, burden on Title VII litigants who challenge the employment decisions of collegial bodies such as partnerships. It is the rare case indeed in which a group of sophisticated professionals such as the Policy Board would formally pass on the candidacy of a woman or other member of a protected group in the unvarnished terms of the Price Waterhouse partner who objected to all female candidates as a matter of principle. Here, Hopkins presented evidence that stereotypical attitudes towards women had manifested themselves in connection with the partnership bids of other women and, more importantly, that these stereotypes had been brought to bear on her own candidacy. In addition, she offered the expert testimony of Dr. Fiske, who concluded that these attitudes played a “major” role in plaintiff’s failure to make partner. In particular, Dr. Fiske noted that these stereotypical attitudes accounted for the extremely negative reactions of Hopkins’ critics to behavior that other partners praised in her — negative reactions, moreover, which the Policy Board formally recognized in its recommendation by stating that plaintiff needed to learn social grace. The District Court therefore had ample support for its conclusion that stereotyping played a significant role in blocking plaintiff’s admission to the partnership.
In Burdine, of course, the Court made clear that ultimately the plaintiff bears the burden of persuasion on the issue of intentional discrimination. While the Court noted that this burden requires the plaintiff to prove that “a discriminatory reason more likely motivated the employer,” 450 U.S. at 256, 101 S.Ct. at 1095, it [470]*470has never ruled definitively that the plaintiff must establish that impermissible discrimination was the predominant or “but for” motivating factor,7 and the circuits have divided on the question.8 McDonnell Douglas and Burdine set out the analytical framework necessary to establish intentional discrimination when there is no direct evidence of such discrimination and, consistent with this analysis, it is inappropriate to require the defendant, simply on the basis of the inference of discrimination raised by plaintiffs prima facie case, to prove that discrimination was not the but for cause of the challenged employment decision. See Toney v. Block, 705 F.2d 1364, 1367-68 (D.C.Cir.1983). Here, however, Hopkins has offered direct evidence that her gender was a significant motivating factor in her failure to make partner, and Price Waterhouse’s claim that it had other legitimate reasons for its decision in no way negates her showing. At this point, the utility of the McDonnell Douglas-Burdine analysis is at an end, for the question is no longer whether plaintiff was “treat[ed] ... less favorably than others because of ... [her] sex,” Teamsters, 431 U.S. at 335-36 n. 15, 97 S.Ct. at 1854 n. 15, but rather whether that less favorable treatment in fact caused the adverse decision she challenges.
Recognizing that “[discriminatory intent is simply not amenable to calibration,” Personnel Administrator v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 277, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 2295, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979), courts have struggled to resolve the difficult questions of causation that arise in mixed-motive cases such as this. While most circuits have not confronted the question squarely, the consensus among those that have is that once a Title VII plaintiff has demonstrated by direct evidence that discriminatory animus played a significant or substantial role in the contested employment decision, the [471]*471burden shifts to the employer to show that the decision would have been the same absent discrimination. Blalock v. Metals Trades, Inc., 775 F.2d 703, 712 (6th Cir.1985) (where plaintiff shows by preponderance of evidence that decision more likely than not motivated by impermissible criterion, burden shifts to employer to show decision would have been the same); Miles v. M.N.C. Corp., 750 F.2d 867, 875 n. 9 (11th Cir.1985) (if plaintiff offers direct evidence that discrimination was substantial factor in decision, burden shifts to employer to show decision would have been the same absent discrimination); see also Bibbs v. Block, 778 F.2d 1318, 1323-24 (8th Cir.1985) (en banc) (once plaintiff shows unlawful motive played some part in decision, liability is established; defendant may limit relief by showing decision would have been the same absent discrimination); Fadhl v. City and County of San Francisco, 741 F.2d 1163, 1166 (9th Cir.1984) (where plaintiff shows unlawful motive was a significant factor, liability is established; defendant may limit relief by demonstrating decision would have been the same absent discrimination). But see Lewis v. University of Pittsburgh, 725 F.2d 910, 915-16 (3d Cir.1983) (plaintiff must show discriminatory animus was the but for cause of decision), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 892, 105 S.Ct. 266, 83 L.Ed.2d 202 (1984). We believe that where a Title VII plaintiff has already discharged her burden of demonstrating that the employment decision was based on impermissible bias,
it is unreasonable and destructive of the purposes of Title VII to require the plaintiff to establish in addition the difficult hypothetical proposition that, had there been no discrimination, the employment decision would have been made in [her] favor. We chose instead to place the burden upon the employer to show, by “clear and convincing evidence,” that the unlawful factor was not the determinative one.
Toney v. Block, 705 F.2d at 1366 (emphasis in original).9 This, of course, is precisely the rule the District Court applied below. We believe this burden-shifting mechanism is appropriately invoked in a mixed-motive case such as this, and accordingly we find no error in the District Court’s allocation of burdens.
Finally, Price Waterhouse argues that the District Court’s findings conclusively demonstrate that Hopkins’ unappealing personality, rather than any unlawful discrimination on the part of the Policy Board, was the but for cause of her failure to make partner. The trial judge expressly noted that the concerns raised over Hopkins’ dealings with staff found support in the record and “provided ample justification for the complaints that form the basis of the Policy Board’s decision.” 618 F.Supp. at 1114. Moreover, the judge acknowledged that because of Hopkins’ apparent lack of interpersonal skills, “the Court cannot say that she would have been elected to partnership if the Policy Board’s decision had not been tainted by sexually biased evaluations.” Id. at 1120. Contrary to Price Waterhouse’s contentions, however, these statements are not inconsistent with the court’s liability determination. On the contrary, they are perfectly in keeping with the fact that this is a case of mixed-motivation. The District Court simply found that both plaintiff’s personality and the sexually stereotyped reactions to her personality were significant factors in [472]*472the firm’s decision to hold her candidacy. Because Price Waterhouse could not demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that impermissible bias was not the determinative factor, however, the District Court properly found for Hopkins on the question of liability.
B. Relief
Turning to the question of relief, the District Court found that Hopkins was entitled to recover backpay from the date of her partnership denial until the date of her resignation, but disallowed any such recovery because the parties had attempted to bifurcate the trial and postpone consideration of the issue of damages without the knowledge or consent of the court. With respect to postdesignation damages, the District Court found that Hopkins had failed to demonstrate that she had been constructively discharged and therefore was ineligible both for backpay subsequent to the date of her resignation and an order directing that she be made a partner.
The facts Hopkins proffered in support of her constructive discharge claim are undisputed. She made clear both at trial and during the course of her employment with Price Waterhouse that consideration for partnership was an absolute prerequisite for any job she would take. Indeed, she left Touche Ross when her husband’s successful partnership bid eliminated her own chances for partnership, and she threatened to resign in 1981 when Price Water-house suggested that her husband’s status as a Touche Ross partner might preclude her consideration for partnership at the firm. Nor does defendant take issue in any way with the District Court's finding that following her initial failure to make partner and OGS’s decision not to re-propose her, it was “very unlikely” that Hopkins would ever become a partner at Price Waterhouse. It is true that plaintiff could have stayed on at the firm as a senior manager and that at least one partner urged her to do so. On the other hand, the customary and. nearly unanimous practice at Price Waterhouse, as at most other accounting firms, is for senior managers who have been passed over for partnership to resign, and one of the OGS partners who strongly opposed Hopkins’ candidacy advised her to do just that.
In ruling that this showing did not suffice to make out a claim of constructive discharge, the District Court relied on Clark v. Marsh, 665 F.2d 1168 (D.C.Cir.1981), where this court stated that in order to prevail on such a claim, an employee must establish that the employer “deliberately made ... working conditions intolerable and drove [the employee] into ‘an involuntary quit.’ ” Id. at 1176 (quoting Retail Store Employees Union Local 880 v. National Labor Relations Board, 419 F.2d 329, 332 (D.C.Cir.1969)). We agree that, taken at face value, this language sets forth a stringent standard. We believe that the District Court’s literal interpretation of that language was misplaced, however, in view of the underlying facts in Clark, as well as decisions in cases following it. To begin with, a number of cases, including one relied upon by this court in Clark, have rejected the notion that the employer must have the specific intent of forcing the employee to quit. See, e.g., Goss v. Exxon Office Systems Co., 747 F.2d 885, 888 (3d Cir.1984); Held v. Gulf Oil Co., 684 F.2d 427, 432 (6th Cir.1982); Bourque v. Powell Electrical Manufacturing Co., 617 F.2d 61, 66 (5th Cir.1980). These courts have instead held that it is sufficient if the employer simply tolerates discriminatory working conditions that would drive a reasonable person to resign. In addition, Clark and cases subsequent to it reveal that the intolerableness of working conditions is very much a function of the reasonable expectations of the employee, including expectations of promotion or advancement. Thus, in Clark, the court noted that the plaintiff, like Hopkins here, “reasonably expected ... opportunities for advancement” and that the employer’s actions “essentially locked [her] into a position from which she could apparently obtain no relief.” 665 F.2d at 1174. Similarly, in Parrett v. City of Connersville, Indiana, 737 F.2d 690 (7th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1145, 105 S.Ct. 828, 83 L.Ed.2d 820 (1985), the Seventh Circuit [473]*473found that plaintiffs transfer, without loss of pay, from chief of detectives to line captain, a dead-end position requiring plaintiff to do virtually nothing, was a form of enforced idleness both humilating and detrimental to a person with the career goals and ambition of the plaintiff. And in Goss, the Third Circuit upheld a district court’s finding that an employer’s discriminatory transfer of plaintiff to a less lucrative sales territory, combined with its indifferent response to her protests of that action, so debilitated and humiliated her that it amounted to a constructive discharge. 747 F.2d 885. In each of these cases there were, of course, other indicia of discriminatory animus, but that is equally true here, where Hopkins faced the prospect of working with a number of partners, including two in her own office, who considered her brusque, abrasive, masculine, and overly aggressive.
We continue to adhere to the view, first set forth in Clark, that the mere fact of discrimination, without more, is insufficient to make out a claim of constructive discharge. Similarly, we believe that discrimination is still best attacked within the context of existing employment relations. Price Waterhouse’s decision to deny Hopkins partnership status, however, coupled with the OGS’s failure to renominate her, would have been viewed by any reasonable senior manager in her position as a career-ending action. Accordingly, it amounted to a constructive discharge. We believe the District Court erred in ruling otherwise and therefore reverse that portion of its decision and remand the case so that the court may conduct further proceedings in order to determine the appropriate relief.
In assessing Hopkins’ post-resignation damages, the District Court must of necessity consider much if not all of the evidence plaintiff sought to introduce in connection with her claim for backpay for the period between her partnership denial and her resignation. We believe, therefore, that the District Court, in determining damages on remand, should also compensate Hopkins for this period. In so ruling, we do not wish to condone unauthorized bifurcation of Title VII or any other actions, nor are we confident that we would require such a re-determination were it not for our remand. The District Court itself, however, expressly found that Hopkins was entitled to recover pre-resignation damages, and there is no suggestion in the record that she was in any way responsible for the decision to postpone the presentation of evidence in this issue. We are somewhat troubled by the fact that the District Court’s penalty for that decision fell solely on plaintiff and resulted in a complete windfall for Price Waterhouse, whose attorneys joined equally in the unauthorized stipulation. In any event, the discourtesy and inconvenience to the court occasioned by the stipulation is largely moot in light of our remand, and we therefore believe it appropriate for the court to award Hopkins the full relief to which she is entitled.
For all the foregoing reasons, we affirm the District Court’s liability determination and reverse and remand the case for the determination of appropriate damages and relief.