Female and male higher education administrators in Texas and New Mexico were compared in terms of their sex role orientation, motivational factors, and administrative styles. In addition to individual interviews of the 68 administrators, a questionnaire was developed that included items from the Bem Sex Role Inventory, Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire (a measurement of motivation), Texas Social Behavior Inventory (a measurement of self-concept), and Attitudes Toward Women Scale (a measurement of profeminist attitudes). For comparison purposes, the same instrument was administered to 111 undergraduate students and 69 public school teachers. The results show that women administrators in higher education are not necessarily less feminine than other women, rather, they seem to have incorporated additional masculine traits, such as self-reliance, achievement motivation, and assertiveness in order to succeed in their nontraditional roles. Female higher education administrators differ drastically from female teachers and students in that they scored higher on masculinity, self-concept, socially desirable traits, and some dimensions of achievement motivation (i.e., work and mastery), but not on other dimensions (i.e., competitiveness and personal unconcern). There was little or no discrepancy between female and male administrators regarding their perceptions of their work roles, the qualifications needed, difficulties and satisfactions encountered, and how they became involved in higher education administration. Female administrators tended to be younger, less educated, single and less likely to have children than male administrators. (SW)