Residence hall and house employees at post-secondary institutions (resident assistants) in Canada are an important part of the social and rules-based structure which allows these facilities to operate. These employees are challenged with varied situations which require the application of mediation, authoritarian, recognition and referral skills. To date, studies have ignored the ways in which the experiences of RAs may be gender specific. This study, conducted with Canadian university residence employees, used an on-line survey of scale and open questions to establish if the experience of female resident assistants matched the available information on the resident assistant position. Survey responses indicated a distinct difference between what female resident assistants believed was expected of them, and the actual experiences they had while working within residence halls. It was also clear that some female resident assistants felt that they were treated as surrogate mothers in the residence setting. Current literature on resident assistants may not accurately reflect the resident assistant experience; the resident assistant position appears to be a gendered space in which biological sex and gender play important roles in employee experience. The training literature for RAs could be revised to prepare female students for these specific challenges.