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Gender equity remains an evolving issue within the United States, in spite of the long history of women's rights legislation, including the 1986 ruling by the Supreme Court that a work environment can be declared hostile or abusive because of discrimination based on sex. In the field of education, women are a majority; however, they are a minority in the upper echelons of educational leadership. The purpose of this study is to examine this ranking disparity and investigate the role of gender in career advancement opportunities in public school systems across the United States. This research is a qualitative phenomenological study, guided by equity theory. It utilizes an interview protocol and interview questions to investigate how female school administrators view the role of gender in career advancement opportunities across the Northeastern Region of the United States. The fourteen participants for this study were selected via purposive sampling. Six of the fourteen participants were elementary school principals, six were middle school principals, one was a superintendent, and one was a deputy superintendent. The participants were located in Washington D.C., Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Their years of experience in education ranged from fifteen to thirty-two years and their years of administrative experiences ranged from three to twenty-four years. The research determined that societal perceptions of women's roles in society, unwritten gender-specific requirements of administrative jobs, the patriarchal structure of the American society, discriminatory hiring practices, the glass ceiling effect, old boy networks and supports for men, and lack of female mentorship have perpetuated a system within which the career paths of male administrators are uninterrupted while the career path of females are inhibited. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]