The psychological development and "coming out" process of lesbian women are examined with regard to career planning. The interaction of these issues with a model of lesbian identity provides a framework for career counselors who work with individuals or lesbian couples. F reud contended that the basic requirements of human existence are love and work. For women who are blending a lesbian life-style and a career, there are particular considerations that need to be examined before these requirements can be met. Both the "coming out" process and career planning entail various stages, neither of which follows a precise timetable for duration or age appropriateness. As they proceed through the career decision-making process, lesbian women may be influenced by different environmental, social, and intrapsychic factors than are heterosexual women. The purpose of this article is to examine how the psychological development and "coming out" process of lesbian women affect their career choices. The issues of dual careers and the implications of these concerns for counselors will also be discussed.Despite the stereotypes held by the general public concerning vocational choices of lesbian women, few empirical studies have focused on their career decision-making process. Etringer, Hetherington, and Hillerbrand (in press) surveyed lesbian, gay, and heterosexual college students on career decision making. Lesbian women showed the least amount of uncertainty, but lesbian women and heterosexual men were the most satisfied with their career choices. The reality of earning a living may be more apparent to lesbian women than to heterosexual women in college; thus, without the benefit of a possible male wage earner, lesbian women must be more seriously committed to work. Lesbian women may need to be more aware of their earning power than are heterosexual women, because it is likely that they will support themselves alone or with another woman. They will be unable to rely on the earning power of a man and men, on the average, earn 64% more than women do. In a study conducted by Sang (1977), those women who identified themselves as lesbians in adulthood assumed that they would be self-supporting from an early age. As a result, they may have chosen male-dominated careers in order to be more self-supportive.

This article reviews the available literature on career issues facing gay men, identifies potentially crucial issues confronting practicing career counselors, and suggests how to work with gay men regarding career issues. Suggestions for future research are also presented.

This study investigates differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals of both sexes with regard to several variables in the career decision-making process: anxiety about making a career choice, indecisiveness about the choice, need to acquire information about the career of choice, uncertainty about the choice, and career choice dissatisfaction. Significant interactions are found on choice uncertainty (gay men having the highest level of uncertainty and lesbian women the lowest) and choice dissatisfaction (heterosexual women and gay men showing more dissatisfaction than the other two groups).

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