Empowering Women in Counseling by Dismantling Internalized Sexism: The Feminist-Multicultural Orientation and Social Justice Competencies

Abstract

Women are exposed to multiple stressors that derive from various forms of violence and social injustice, most notably sexism. Sexism is an ideological system that maintains and reinforces gender injustice, which manifests at institutional, interactional, and individual levels. Among the various iterations of structural sexism, internalized sexism encourages women to retain and reproduce sexist messages unconsciously, leading to such adverse mental health outcomes as increased feelings of inferiority and self-doubt. With this background, the current article provides a review of literature on internalized sexism among women, as well as its impact on women’s mental health. In so doing, we posit the Feminist-Multicultural Orientation and Social Justice Competencies (F-MCOSJ) as a model for mental health counselors tending to women clients. This model includes feminist multicultural orientation, awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions. A case example is provided to demonstrate how the F-MCOSJ can be applied to address internalized sexism in counseling.