As far as promotions go, several women attested to the glass ceiling: ``I don't think it's due to any malevolence on the part of management, but simply because most of management is male and feels more comfortable dealing with other men.''
A senior researcher believes that a woman's gender-related experiences depend a lot on her generation. ``The greatest change has come at the bottom of the pyramid; junior faculty members have so far not encountered obvious obstacles. It's different at the top.'' While she sees herself in the vanguard, the only woman in many situations, she does not consider herself part of the ``in'' group. She believes women can go further in industry than in academia. Evaluations are more structured and above-board, and depend on more objective criteria.
Others also mentioned the pyramid effect: ``I'm almost uniformly the only woman on a program committee, the only woman among a list of invited speakers. Men make up the reviewing committees, and they choose mostly men. There are women in the audience, but not where I am; there is no one ahead of me to fight for me.''