Career Counseling and Life Planning With Lesbian Women

Abstract

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.

The shifting landscape of LGBT organizational research

“…(2011, p. 259). From bluecollar craft jobs and commercial truck driving to army mechanics and gymnastic teachers (for lesbians), and professional dancers and church organists to sailors and interior designers (for gay men), many scholars have noted the strikingly high concentration of lesbian and gay workers in certain occupations (Badgett, 1995;Bailey & Oberschneider, 1997;Bérubé, 2011;Hetherington & Orzek, 1989;Whitam, 1986). One of the first studies to report national estimates of gay and lesbian occupational concentration used U.S. Census data for same-sex partners in 33 of the largest professions and showed that gay men and lesbians were "concentrated in the [professional] fields that focus on creativity, psychology/counseling, and law/social work" (Baumle et al, 2009, p. 168).…”

Lesbians: Identifying, facing, and navigating the double bind of sexual orientation and gender in organizational settings

“…These nontraditional roles, combined with the expectation of being self-supporting through their lives, provide the motivation for lesbians to pursue male-dominated careers, which will likely be higher paying than traditionally woman-dominated careers (Chung, 1995). Lesbians' double minority status contributes to the complexities that they confront in life and career planning (Hetherington and Orzek, 1989). Lesbians often realize early in life that they will not marry, so they tend to invest more heavily in preparing for careers than straight women do (Black, Makar, Sanders, and Taylor, 2003).…”

“…In research conducted with heterosexual, gay, and lesbian college students, lesbians showed the least amount of uncertainty about their career decision making (Hetherington and Orzek, 1989), and lesbians and heterosexual men were the most satisfied with their career choices. An awareness of the need to support themselves, as well as the frequent devaluation of traditionally female jobs in the lesbian community (Morgan and Brown, 1991), may further encourage lesbians to consider nontraditional, and usually more highly paid, careers (Fassinger, 1995).…”

“…Fassinger (1995) has pointed out that despite a number of vocational barriers that lesbians may face, there are also important facilitative aspects of lesbian identity related to career planning and choice. Most salient among these is that lesbians tend to demonstrate more nontraditional, androgynous gender roles than do heterosexual women (Fassinger, 1996;Hetherington and Orzek, 1989;Morgan and Brown, 1991). Moreover, because lesbianism is difficult to physically distinguish, lesbians have the ability to hide their identities when their safety or security is threatened.…”

Access to the labour market for gays and lesbians: Research review

“…To avoid bias, some gay men and lesbians prefer to sort into occupations that they perceive as more "gay-friendly" (Chung, 1995). Because of limited self-awareness, constriction of self-concept, and lower social support, gay men and lesbians may prematurely foreclose on career choices (Hetherington & Orzek, 1989;Prince, 1995), possibly leading to suboptimal choice of field of education and career. Moreover, in adolescence, the primary context for validation, self-esteem, and autonomy involves acceptance by a peer group.…”