Her male superiors had always coveted her and she was constantly fending off their advances.

She had been bullied, harassed and frightened into repeatedly having sexual intercourse with several of her male superiors.

When she told her male superiors about the incident, she added, they said they did not believe her.

The case has drawn attention to a problem that some legal experts say has been overlooked in the current focus on harassment of women by male superiors.

However, they found no occurrences of male subordinates being spoken to in this way, either from female or male superiors.

Their male superiors could, and did, hire and fire.

This division of labor was understood and expected, and women typically felt unable to challenge their position or male superiors.

And one in three of the women said they did not get enough respect from male superiors.

First, their male superiors tell them to shut up.

"My male superiors were worried that the female executives would hate it," Ms. Chang said.