  Working with a ${\cal U}(1)$ flavor symmetry, we show how the hierarchical
structure in the charged fermion sector and a democratic approach for neutrinos
that yields large solar and atmospheric neutrino mixings can be simultaneously
realized in the MSSM framework. However, in SU(5) due to the unified multiplets
we encounter difficulties. Namely, democracy for the neutrinos leads to a wrong
hierarchical pattern for charged fermion masses and mixings. We discuss how
this is overcome in flipped SU(5).
