Far from being an "endangered species" (Edwards & Lyons, 1994), moving towards extinction, women secondary head teachers are alive and well in Birmingham. While the national picture in England and Wales showed 29.8 per cent of secondary head teachers were women in 2005, this research identifies extensive regional differences. In Birmingham 41 per cent of secondary head teachers were women. Thirty-two women were leading secondary schools in the maintained sector. In the West Midlands, 64 women (34 per cent) were leading maintained secondary schools. While proportionately close to the 2002 national figure of 31.6 per cent, numerically it represents the highest concentration of women secondary head teachers outside London. This article contextualises doctoral research undertaken as part of the EdD Leaders and Leadership in Education programme at the University of Birmingham, in which the author investigates the experiences of women and men becoming and being secondary head teachers in Birmingham at the beginning of the twenty-first century. (Contains 8 tables and 1 note.)