Studies conducted by organizations such as Catalyst, the Institute for Womens Policy Research, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics continue to show that women are making strides in the workplace, but are also underrepresented in top-level management positions. Women constitute 47% of the workforce, but only 12% are in upper executive ranks (Evans, 2003). This phenomenological study shows how women who have reached senior-executive-level management within the Federal government obtained and sustained their positions and the obstacles they had to endure to get into these top leadership...