無論中外，大學多半呈現性別比例不均的非對稱團體，且職階越高性別比例差異越懸殊，儼然成為男性中心工作環境。此工作場域裡屬少數的女性院長在領導男性多數時，往往會遇到許多困境。為探求並呈現大學女教授更多元的聲音與經驗，本文以女性院長為研究參與者，生命故事為研究方法，以瞭解在不均等的性別結構下、男性主導的行政體系裡，女性院長的生涯歷程，並分為家庭責任、同儕文化、行政晉升等面向加以探討。本文發現，三位院長之生命故事具個殊脈絡，但其所遇的結構壓迫卻相同；婚姻家庭中，結構壓力同時作用在兩性身上；行政晉升上，守門員的性別觀點是其生涯關鍵的重要影響因素；進入行政體系後，由於行政體系男性化，故性別角色異例與男性行政文化便成其共同困擾；而在此行政環境裡，人脈與同儕網絡雖不易建立，但老女孩網絡卻是其重要支持力量；最後，應用陰柔特質於行政領導是三位院長共同的特色。

In Taiwan and abroad, gender inequality has long existed in universities. In both faculties and administrations, men have commonly been in the majority and women in the minority. The higher the rank or position, the greater the disparity between the per-centage of men and women holding it. Female deans in these male-dominated working environments face numerous problems and obstacles. This research project used the life-story interviews of female deans as a way to understand their career paths in male-centered universities. These women’s career-paths were analyzed in terms of three factors: family responsibility, peer culture, and administrative advancement. The project discovered that, even though their life stories were quite different, three female deans faced the same forms of structural oppression. The findings suggest that while in their marriages both husband and wife suffered the same pressure from the social structure, when it came to administrative advancement there was a clear gender gap. After the deans became involved in the administrative system, the all-male or “old-buddy” administrative culture became a common problem. While it was thought to be very difficult to build social connections and networks in the male-dominated work environment, project participants thought that an alternative “old-girl” network was the best solution. Furthermore, as far as the capacity for leadership is concerned, it was concluded that an administrator with female characteristics may finally be just as effective as one with male characteristics.