A recent publication by the American Council on Education's, Office of Women in Higher Education (2010), shows that women and minorities promoted to senior level administrative positions have made gains. However, they remain underrepresented on most campuses. This paper argues that the slow emergence of women and minorities into senior level administrative positions suggests that inter-play among "politics" and "power" may contribute to the existing gender gap and, that the problem is more complex than the figures show. The assumption by this writer is the inter-play among "politics" (power play among various forces or stakeholders) and "power" (real or imagined) combine to influence the end game. Bolman and Deal's Four Frames; "structural," "human resource," "political," and "symbolic" offer a fresh perspective to approaching higher education issues including how /why women and minorities advance or don't advance in higher education and accompanying barriers. The significance of the study is to provide a basis for addressing the barriers that minorities and women encounter at their work place theoretically and practically using the Bowman and Deal's framework. The question is: how can we break through the negative cycle created by the denial of career advancement for women and minorities?