The issues examined included those influencing the decision about whether to enter the promotion process and, after making the decision to enter the process, the factors influencing women during the process. The agency studied had more than 650 sworn officers and served a metropolitan jurisdiction of approximately 300,000 in a county with over 700,000 people. Sixteen percent of the sworn personnel were women. All 326 sworn personnel who were eligible to participate in the sergeant promotional process received an anonymous mailed survey that asked for demographic information and perceptions concerning participating in the promotional process. Responses came from 149 police officers, of whom 84 percent were male and 83 percent were white. Results revealed that the rate of promotion for females lags behind that for males in the agency studied. Personal choices that were constrained by impediments from within and outside the organization contributed to the lack of parity. Reasons women gave for not participating in the promotional process generally related to their familial and childcare roles. Those who took part in the promotional process engaged in solitary periods of study for longer periods than their male counterparts, but they did not tend to use group study or informal preparation methods such as consultation with supervisory and command officers, consistent with their lack of full integration into the informal social and organizational structure. Findings suggested the need for strategies to increase the proportion of women in supervisory and managerial positions. Tables and 25 references