Although gender discrimination in all of its manifestations is often thought to be absent from higher education, academic institutions are hierarchical organizations that offer rewards, status and privilege, thereby rendering the status of women within these institutions politically and economically vulnerable. With each generation of female academics, the organizational structures that both free and bind women are altered through agency and progress. Invariably, the advancement of women disrupts and alters normative power structures and offers hope and promise for the next generation of women in academe. Using a personal narrative framework from which to analyze the Catch-22s that often impede women from advancing and succeeding within academe, this paper will provide a feminist analysis of the role of women in academic organizations by focusing on the double binds that have been offered to women as dichotomous choices. Using theories of communication and feminism alongside personal experience within a teaching university, the study will explore the dichotomies between the following areas: (1) Motherhood vs. academe (womb or brain); (2) University teaching vs. research (emotion or mind); (3) Community and university service vs. leadership and professional advancement (femininity or competence); and (4) Discrimination and pay equity (equality or difference). Through personal reflections on struggle and achievement, the author's goal is to offer strategies for maneuvering past sexist barricades as a means toward success and equality in academe. (Contains 37 footnotes.)