This study focuses upon the experience of identity through gathering and studying accounts of the personal and professional lives of twenty women who are headteachers and mothers in the North Midlands of England. The enquiry is shaped by a conceptual framework which grows out of an in depth review of the UK and international literature. The interplay between agency and structure within the social construction of a gendered identity and the value systems based upon this lead to a consideration of the history of headship and its reworking, within Government agenda, as school leadership through the National College for School Leadership. A consideration of research methodology explains the choice of survey as a qualitative approach influenced by the feminist stance, and a semi-structured interview method. Presentation and analysis of the fieldwork has an emphasis on ensuring that the subjects' voices are prioritised. The complex dialogic nature of identity is clearly heard and the women demonstrate that their struggle for agency within this demands a manipulation of Government and social agenda.