Do “Womanist” Identity Attitudes Influence College Women's Self‐Esteem and Perceptions of Environmental Bias?

Abstract

Helms (1990) proposed a four-stage model of womanist identity in which she hypothesized that development of healthy identity in women involves movement from external standards of gender identity to internal standards. Attitudes derived from her model were used to predict undergraduate women's self-esteem and perceptions of sex bias in the campus environment. Female undergraduates (N=659), freshmen through seniors, were surveyed in classes at a large eastern university. Results indicated that Encounter (characterized by questioning of previously held stereotypical views about gender and dawning awareness of alternative perspectives) and Immersion-Emersion (characterized by an active rejection of male supremacist values and beliefs and the search for a positive self-affirming definition of womanhood) attitudes were inversely related to perceptions of environmental gender bias and positively related to self-esteem. Implications for counseling and future research are discussed.Electronic Journal: To print this article select pages 34-40. TOC

Feminism: What is it Good For? Feminine Norms and Objectification as the Link between Feminist Identity and Clinically Relevant Outcomes

“…It should be noted that both of these studies are more than 20 years old and the cultural understanding of feminism has changed since this time. A recent study found that being in the later stages of feminist identity development was related to increased well-being (Saunders and Kashubeck-West 2006); similar results have been found using a model of womanist identity (Ossana et al 1992). On the other hand, one study found no difference between feminists and non-feminists on a measure of psychological distress (Landrine and Klonoff 1997), and another study found that self-esteem did not increase over the course of a semester in a women's studies class (Harris et al 1999).…”

Gendered Racial Identity of Black Young Women

“…Models of gender and womanist identity are similar to racial/ethnic identity models, suggesting that children and adolescents move from having superficial or naïve beliefs regarding gender, gender-role expectations, and gender identity, to developing a more sophisticated understanding of the sociopolitical connotations of gender (Downing and Roush 1985;Helms 1990). Research has found that womanist identity in adults is related to selfesteem, perceptions of environmental bias, and gender role expectations Ossana et al 1992). Research has also focused on the construct of femininity and gender role expectations.…”

Advancing Womanist Identity Development

“…It is important to note, however, that this use of the term womanist is somewhat different from Walker (1983), Brown (1989), and others' definitions of womanism as a consciousness that views racial, gender, and other oppressions and identities as inextricably linked. Finally, Ossana et al (1992) stated that the proposed "stage-wise developmental process" (p. 403) of the womanist identity developmental model was extrapolated from extant identity development models, particularly those of Cross (1971) and Atkinson, Morten, and Sue (1979).…”

“…More specifically, Ossana et al (1992) suggested that a common premise of extant models of gender identity is that healthy gender identity development for women involves moving from external and societal definitions of womanhood to an internal self-definition. Thus, womanist identity development is characterized by moving from an externally based to an internally based definition of oneself as a woman.…”

“…For example, authors of the feminist identity development model (Downing & Roush, 1985) and other scholars (e.g., Moradi, Subich, & Phillips, 2002a, 2002bVandiver, 2002) expressed concern that this model did not take into account experiences of racial/ethnic minority women. Helms's (1990b, as cited in Carter & Parks, 1996 womanist identity development model, however, is a model of gender-related identity development that Ossana, Helms, and Leonard (1992) argued applies to women across racial/ethnic, class, and other groups. The proposed broad applicability of the womanist identity development model represents an important contribution to the identity development literature that warrants a review of the model's utility, applicability, and areas for development.…”