A study sought to determine professional role performance difficulties for first year Illinois public school teachers (K-12) and the differences between these difficulties as reported by male and female teachers. There were 548 teachers (429 female and 119 male) who responded to the study. They were asked to express any difficulties with seven professional roles involving the teacher as: (1) planner; (2) director and helper of learning; (3) counselor and guide to the student; (4) mediator and interpreter of the culture; (5) link with the community; (6) member of the teaching profession; and (7) member of the school community. Conclusions drawn include: (1) Differences in male and female reports of role performance difficulty favored female teachers, who reported less difficulty than did male teachers; (2) Male and female teachers did not differ significantly in reports of role performance difficulties when reports were analyzed by the level of teacher assignment; and (3) Male and female teachers ranked in order of difficulty the seven professional roles similarly with two exceptions: the females ranked "teacher as mediator and interpreter of the culture" as the most difficult while males ranked "teacher as director and helper of learning" as most difficult. (JM)