This two-year ethnographic study examines the life stories of Muslim women holding mid- and high-level leadership positions in Israeli-Arab segregated schools. The women emerged from their gendered and ethnic/nationality oppression as pathfinders with strong ambitions to further their education and careers. Using strategies that entailed the support of male family members, they pushed culturally acceptable boundaries without creating destructive conflicts. This study informs educational anthropological research on women's self-empowerment and social change in "traditional" societies. (Contains 1 table.)