More women than men attend undergraduate Higher Education, and more women than men are examined from undergraduate studies. In Sweden the proportion of female students has been around 51- 60 percent for several years. The number of doctoral entrants and the number of doctoral degrees meet a "balanced gender criterion" defined as no sex constituting more than 60 per cent of the total numbers of individuals. These are indisputable facts at least in Sweden - still the unequal gender structure of higher positions (research fellows, senior lecturers, professors) persists. Explaining and understanding this state of affairs are the main themes in an ongoing research project on Gender Equality in Swedish Higher Education. In a study by Riis & Lindberg (1996) it was concluded that valuation of applicants in the academic recruitment system to teacher positions was not the crucial point for gender equality within the Swedish Academia. This result refuted a widely spread belief.In this paper a number of other circumstances are analyzed. These are assumed to contribute to the fact that change in the gender structure of higher positions does not occur at all or that the process of change is very slow. The materials used are (1) a bibliography over Nordic studies covering 1995 - 2002 (Kyndel, Lindberg & Riis 2003) and (2) analyses of available national statistics on Swedish Higher Education. Crossing rates studied (from undergraduate studies to doctoral studies, and from doctoral studies to employment within Higher Education) change over time but also over national research areas. Further, the research focus lies more on horizontal states and changes than on vertical ones. The results show:1. The gender balance varies much due to research area studied. The horizontal analysis shows a different and a more complex picture compared with one composed of vertical statistics when used for the description of states.2. There is a change towards gender balance during the 1990thies. However, research areas such as Mathematics and Engineering Sciences remain almost unchanged over the decade. 3. The possibilities for doctoral studies differ between research areas. The three largest areas within undergraduate studies are Social Sciences, Teacher Education and Engineering Sciences. Female students heavily dominate the first two. The best possibilities for doctoral studies are in Medicine, Engineering Sciences and Natural Sciences. There are relatively few undergraduate students in Medicine and Natural Sciences. Entrants to these doctoral studies are however gender balanced. In Engineering Sciences, on the contrary, there is not gender balance. Teacher Education is a large undergraduate area consisting mostly of female students. The possibilities for doctoral studies are small and crossing rates are extremely low. Over all the crossing rates are substantially lower for women than for men. Women and men spend almost the same time in doctoral programs. There are differences in this respect between research areas but not between sexes.The paper presents a number of hypotheses and discusses possible approaches for further studies.