The following excerpt is from Blake v. City of Los Angeles, 595 F.2d 1367 (9th Cir. 1979):
4 See Note, "Height Standards in Police Employment and the Question of Sex Discrimination," 47 S.Cal.L.Rev. 585, 598-99 (1974). Nothing this court said in United States v. Ironworkers Local 86 (9th Cir. 1971) 443 F.2d 544, supports appellees' notion that plaintiffs are required to go beyond a showing of disproportionate impact to establish a prima facie violation of Title VII. Our statement that the use of statistics "is conditioned by the existence of proper supportive facts" meant only that statistics should be used properly and should not be used to make inferences they do not support. Appellants here properly used statistics to establish the disproportionate impact of appellees' selection devices. They did not need to make any greater showing to establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination. As we stated in Ironworkers : "It is our belief that the often-cited aphorism, 'statistics often tell much and Courts listen,' has particular application in Title VII cases." (443 F.2d at 551 (footnote omitted).)
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