As part of our study of the phenomenon of gender inequality in Russia, we studied 575 women. Based on the results of theoretical analysis and the survey, we identified 12 women's career strategies - scenarios of women's behavior, reflecting the combination of her life situation and decisions made. These strategies are ways to realize the desire to make a career and are actualized precisely for "female leadership", when a woman meets the gender barrier. An analysis of the latent factors behind the behavioral scenarios found showed that the behavior of women who want to succeed professionally depends on 4 key issues: 1) whether leadership, career success is their priority; 2) whether they faced dual demands, difficulties because of their gender (gender barrier); 3) whether they succeeded in overcoming this barrier or whether it was taken for granted; 4) how demanding and loaded their "women's work" is in the family. Of the 12 strategies, only one - "development of a female leader" (prioritizing their work goals with proactive behavior, constant development, the search for social capital and role models among women) leads to subjective career success in all its manifestations, its main predictor is a component of career capital "know how". The other strategies related to greater competence, gaining connections, love of one's work, lead only to more tension or refusal of realization in the family, a decrease in the level of subjective well-being.