This study revealed the phenomenological meaning three women in the upper levels of school administration in a military school system overseas made of the barriers (both internal and external) they experienced in their professional lives and the strategies they used to overcome those barriers.

The primary data collection tool in this research study was the semi-structured interview combined with professionally transcribed tapes, member checks, and an audit trail maintained by the researcher.

The 2000 United States Census Bureau characterized the superintendency as having been the most male-dominated executive position of any profession in the United States. However, this was not the case in the overseas military school system researched in this study, which was where the women in this study were employed and led. The military overseas school system studied in this project actually had a preponderance of upper level female administrators.