Five common elements are evident in the life histories of twelve women who belong to two experience cohorts. The first group contains those who began teaching prior to the Second World War, sometime in the 1920s, 30s or early 40s; the second group contains those who began teaching after World War II, in the late 1940s, the 50s or 60s. Each of these women eventually became a school principal. Despite differences in their ages and the differing historical contexts in which they moved into school administrative roles, there were a number of striking similarities in their accounts which contrasted sharply with the experiences reported by the twelve men in the study who were from similar cohorts and who became teachers and principals in the same time period and within the same school board.

The first common element is that, as dutiful daughters, each of these women accepted family responsibilities quite different from those described by men. While sons indicated they were encouraged to leave their parents' household and seek economic independence at a relatively early age, daughters were expected to "stay close to home." The women did so not only for physical and economic protection, but to maintain family connections and make sure the needs of all the family were cared for. Women therefore remained within their parents' household for more extended periods than men, and indeed, all of the women in the first cohort, who did not marry, remained in those households throughout their teaching careers. Even for the women in the second cohort who did marry, care of aging parents fell to them more than to the sons since the son's own wife and children were deemed his primary responsibility.

These distinctions contributed to differences in the mobility of women and men within their early and later teaching careers, women being far less able to seek diverse or distant teaching opportunities. It also affected the economic needs of men and women. Because women often fell under the economic protection of their parents or even their husband, they were less likely to seek further credentials or advancement that would improve their salaries. Later in their careers, men's economic needs as heads of households were more visible that those of women, even though each of the women also had economic responsibilities for others in their households.

A second common element in the life histories of the women is evident in the manner in which they described themselves as students. They consistently described having to work hard to succeed at school, while each of the men talked about succeeding through ability rather than effort. This is evident in the comments made by Brenda and Jerry (2). Brenda recalled: "I had to work very hard. I was not academically super-successful. I worked hours and hours. I had some very good friends and that was what saved me." Jerry stated: " I had it all figured out before it was said. Before it was taught I knew what it was. I was precocious and all the rest. I had trouble because I fooled around a lot but I managed to get by."

Comments of this nature were echoed as men and women talked about why they had been promoted to the principalship and how they acted as principals. Each of the women said they were noticed by their superiors because they had worked hard and they stressed the long hours they put in as principals. In contrast, each of the men stated that their ability had caught the attention of their superiors and, once promoted, they felt they became a better principal as they learned to improve their skills and lessen the hours spent on their role.