Revision with unchanged content. Do today's men and women pursue
leadership positions for the same reasons? Do the career paths of men
and women differ in duration and types of positions held? What personal
and professional variables affect the aspiration to leadership? The
purpose of the this study was to investigate differences between males
and females who were actively pursuing or not pursuing the
superintendent's position with respects to personal and professional
variables. Gender, personal characteristics, career path, career
barriers and career facilitators were examined in relationship with
aspiration level to the school superintendency. Findings showed the
interaction between gender and career path was significant. More males
tended to have linear career paths, while more females had non-linear
career paths. In addition, the analysis of the career path interactions
showed that male respondents in a linear career path were significantly
larger than those in a non-linear career path. Female respondents were
divided evenly between linear and non-linear paths. This study also
found a majority of women to be firstborn as in previous research.