FEMINIST THEORY

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

This paper aims to achieve the primary goal that feminist theory or feminism does not pertain to
women overpowering men, this paper wants to highlight that feminism is all about equality. The second
goal that this paper trying to achieve is the importance of understanding that feminism does not discredit
men’s struggles of how the society view on what and how they should be, this particular goal is trying to
emphasize that both sexes are struggling because of how the society specifically patriarchy constructed the
roles and expectations that each of these sexes have to follow. The last goal that should be achieved is for
future social workers or social work students to understand how feminism or feminist theory can be applied
in social work counseling, in this goal, it is important to highlight that the application of feminism in social
work counseling is not just exclusively applicable for women but also for men because after all the social
work profession is for gender equality.

According to Hillock (2014) feminism nowadays is viewed negatively and stereotypically that is
why the primary goal should be realized through breaking the preconceived notion of people that feminism
is all about female domination or women overpowering men, people should be enlightened and should not
equate empowering women to the idea of taking control or dominating men. The second goal can be
achieved through making the people understand that patriarchy is the root cause why both sexes have
different and unequal roles and expectations to follow that results to oppression, injustice, inequality, and
even sexism.

The last goal which is to make future social workers understand how feminism can be applied in
social work counseling. This can be achieved through understanding key concepts, these key concepts
include Feminist Perspective in Human Nature that involves gender-fair approach, flexible multicultural
perspectives, interactionist view, and life-span perspectives, other key concepts are Personality
Development in Feminist Theory, and Principles of Feminist Theory. Future social workers should also
know the counseling procedures, goals, the functions, roles, and skills in feminist counseling, and of course
the inclusion of men in feminist counseling. Future social workers should also know and understand the
techniques and strategies in feminist counseling, these techniques and strategies are empowerment, self-
disclosure, gender-role analysis and intervention, power analysis, bibliotherapy, assertive training, as well
as reframing and relabeling.

METHODOLOGY

The information utilized in this paper are obtained through reviewing and researching reliable
sources or articles online, these articles of course tackle about feminist theory, different feminist
perspectives, feminist counseling and how it can be applied in the context of social work counseling. These
sources are journal articles and online books. One particular online book utilized as a main source of terms
and concepts is the book of Gerald Corey entitled Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy
(Ninth Edition). Several trusted authors cited in the book of Corey are also being used to support the whole
content of this paper.
 As to the rules in collecting information, the group strictly abide to academic honesty, this includes
avoiding plagiarism, the usage of correct intext citation, the proper way in quoting statements of authors,
and the proper way in summarizing or paraphrasing ideas of authors.

As to the procedure of getting the information and to assure reliability, the group decided to stick
to journal articles, reliable websites, and books published online. In organizing the content of this paper, it
started with the overview of the topic which it tackles about feminism and its different connotations to
people who have preconceived notions about it, it also includes clarifying the point of feminism that it is
not about women’s domination, but it is about equality, that it is not about discrediting men but treating
men as also having struggles with the roles and expectations constructed by the patriarchal society. The
overview also includes varying school of thoughts about feminism and the core points that unify or what
they have in common, it also includes the contribution of feminism to counseling as well as psychotherapy.
The overview utilized authors idea from various sources, and ideas of these authors are obtained with
consideration of how old and how recently it was published.

As to the key concepts in feminist counseling, its application, and counseling procedures applicable
in the context of feminist counseling in social work, it centered around in the book of Gerald Corey and the
group also utilized or cited several authors from his book as well as other reliable authors online to support
and have wide a discussion.

OVERVIEW OF THE TOPIC

FEMINIST THEORY

➢ Feminism as a complex notion that has vast differences in meaning and connotations for people
spanning generations, ethnic identities, sexual orientations, social classes, nationality, and myriad
identities (Hooks, 2000).
➢ The theory of feminism has always been about viewing the social world in a way that illuminates
the forces that create and support inequality, oppression, and injustice, and in doing so, promotes
the pursuit of equality and justice (Crossman, 2020).
➢ Feminism is not a single perspective but encompasses five schools of thought, the liberal, Marxist,
socialist, radical, and postmodern feminism (Policastro, 2015).
➢ All the varying viewpoints within feminist theory differ slightly with regard to their practical focus
whilst each situates itself around the three core values of empowerment, personal and societal
intersection, and the privileging of marginalized experiences (La Guardia & Banner, 2013).
➢ Assignment to gendered behavioral categories based on sex occurs at such an early stage in life that
by the time people attain the capacity for language and self-consciousness, gendered constructions
are already so deeply embedded that they are phenomenologically experienced as hard-wired,
linked biologically to sex (Brown, 2010).
➢ The theory of feminism is a relevant perspective to discuss since it recognizes the struggles of
women and their experiences from the different dynamics and structures in the society, particularly
those of which pertains to sociopolitical and interpersonal realm involving sexual hierarchies.
➢ Part of what makes feminist theory creative and inclusive is that it often considers how systems of
power and oppression interact, which is to say it does not just focus on gendered power and
 oppression, but on how this might intersect with systemic racism, a hierarchical class system,
sexuality, nationality, and (dis)ability, among other things (Crossman, 2020).

FEMINIST THERAPY

➢ Feminist therapy is an integrative approach to psychotherapy that focuses on gender and the
challenges and stressors that women face as a result of bias, stereotyping, oppression,
discrimination, and other factors that threaten women mental health (Brown, n.d.).
➢ Feminist therapy focuses on empowering women and helping them discover how to break the
stereotypes and molds of some traditional roles that women play that may be blocking their
development and growth (Mahaney, 2007).
➢ Researchers say that feminist therapy was unique in that it acknowledged that women could
experience emotional distress due to overt oppression and marginalization, as well as micro
aggressions (Fruchter, 2021).
➢ Feminist therapy or counseling adheres to three basic assumptions. First, the personal is political.
Second, egalitarian therapeutic relationships should be paramount, and clinical processes should
not mimic the differential power relationships that exist in society. And lastly, women's experiences
should be valued and privileged (Fianagan, 2020).
➢ Counseling is a process proved of not just being applicable and helpful towards women, but it also
embraces the opposite sex. In fact, it also recognizes the idea that men are also challenged with
social and gender role constraints. For an instance are matters concerning autonomy, competition,
and more importantly strength. Men in our society are expected not to manifest any expressions of
sensitivity and acts implicating vulnerability. Simply, they are often associated with acts
dominating strength and power.

BRIEF ORIGIN OF FEMINISM

➢ For so many years, women perspectives were excluded in the society. Women mobility are given
limitation due to the contributory factors revolving gender roles. In fact, accounts involving the
experiences and sufferings of women were unrecognized and given insufficient importance. Thus,
feminist therapy was moved to transpire in response to the various predicaments experienced by
women over the history.
➢ Feminist therapy was anchored to the historic movements of women of the late 1960’s. Whereas,
according to various sources, there is no existing accounts of its specific roots. However, its
foundation was often linked in the year 1960 when women began to voice out their dissatisfactions
and started to advocate for their rights as individuals.
➢ Tong (2001) argues that the feminism which exists of today has evolved in three historical waves.
The first wave dealt with suffrage; the second was centered on equal access; and the current wave
is focusing on global equality.
➢ Finally, one of the major contributions feminists gave made to the field of counseling and
psychotherapy is paving the way for a gender-sensitive practice and an awareness of the impact of
the culture context and multiple oppressions (Corey, 2011).
 KEY CONCEPTS OF FEMINIST THEORY AND THERAPY

Corey (2011) emphasized that feminist perspective offers a unique approach to understanding the roles
that both women and men have been socialized to accept and to bringing this understanding into the
therapeutic process.

A. Feminist Perspective in Human Nature

Corey (2017) cited Worell and Remer (2003) describe the constructs of feminist theory as being
gender fair, flexible–multicultural, interactionist, and life-span-oriented.

a) Gender Fair Approach

⎯ Gender is a social construction.
⎯ Elucidates the differences of socialization process women and men instead of going
through only on the innate nature of both.
⎯ Disregards the notion that biology is destiny and holds suspect most claims of innate
male-female behavioral differences.

b) Flexible Multicultural Perspectives

⎯ considers concepts and strategies that are holistic in nature.
⎯ It gives an equal chance to everyone.

c) Interactionist View
⎯ Focuses on thinking, feeling, and behaving facets of human experience and account
for contextual and environmental factors (Corey, 2011).
⎯ Feminist theory believes that who persons interacts with under what circumstances is
critical to the development of, and changes in meanings and thus to interaction
process.

d) Life-span perspectives
⎯ Assumes that human development is a lifelong process and that personality and
behavioral changes can occur at any time rather than being fixed during early
childhood (Corey, 2011).
⎯ Nothing is constant and everything changes throughout the working life.

B. Personality Development in Feminist Perspective

First Development Insight: The realization of Human as separate individual being during
Infancy Stage.

Human development theorists believe our first self-defining insight is the realization,
occurring during infancy, that mommy (or daddy or primary caregiver) is distinct from the
self as emphasized by Flanager & Flanager (2015)

Second Development Insight: Awareness of our biological sex.

 Researcher contends that as early as eighteen (18) months, toddlers are already aware of
their sexual orientation and start to process relevant information accordingly.

Important Points:

• These developmental insights are significant in world of identity formation.

• Gilligan (1982) believe that the development of women is patterned on the observed
development of man and male norms.
• Kashak (1992) proposes the masculine defines the feminine because of the fact that men
are dominant which then eventually determine the role that women have to play.
• As women usually in subordinated position, to survive and thrive in society they must be
able to interpret the needs and behaviors of the dominant group.
• Women have developed “women’s intuition” and have included in their gender schema an
internalized belief that women are less important than men
• Understanding and acknowledging internalized oppression is central in feminist work

C. Principles of Feminist Theory

1. The personal is political. Acknowledgment of the political and societal impact on an individual’s
life is perhaps the most fundamental tenet that lies at the core of feminist therapy (Corey, 2017).
2. Commitment to social change. The main goal is not only for the sake of women but rather also for
the benefit of everyone including men and other people whom are chained from the constraint of
gender-role expectations.
3. Women’s and girl’s voices and ways of knowing are valued, and their experiences are honored. One
of the goals of Feminist therapy is to replace patriarchal “objective truth” with feminist
consciousness, which acknowledges diverse ways of knowing (Corey, 2017).
4. The counseling relationship is egalitarian. Corey (2017) highlights that finding ways to share power
with clients and to demystify therapy is essential because feminist therapists believe all relationships
should strive for equality, or mutuality.
5. A focus on strengths and a reformulated definition of psychological distress. Feminist therapists talk
about problems in the context of living and coping skills rather than pathology (Enns, 2004; Worell
& Remer, 2003 as cited in Corey (2011)).
6. All types of oppression are recognized. The inequalities in social and political stance creates divers
forms of oppression and have negative effect to people especially those marginalized and exploited.
Framing clients’ issues within a cultural context leads to empowerment, which can be fully realized
only through social change (Worell & Remer, 2003).

APPLICATION OF FEMINIST THEORY IN COUNSELING AND THERAPY

A. Counseling Goals
▪ The counselor must set goals throughout counseling that will make the counseling process
meaningful and have a direction.
▪ The Women’s Liberation Movement (Rosenthal, 1984) stated two goals of counseling in relation
to feminism:
(a) to change the social and economic condition of women and
 In counseling, the counselor must consider the women’s social and economic capacity to
have a better insight on how the counseling must go on. The women’s capacity in this area
also limits the counselor’s capacity to help them and provide solutions to their problems.
In a society which depend on manual labor, the women’s capacity to work and provide for
themselves must be at stake.

Socialization is very important to have a common ground of understanding between men

and women, and by not giving an advantageous power to neither of them. In counseling
women, the counselor must stick to the goal that the gender-fair attitudes should be
observed throughout the counseling session.

(b) to change individuals.

Considering that feminism is not a power that is more powerful than men, every individual
regardless of gender should undergo counseling fairly with the goal of changing the client
as an individual. Individual experiences and problems adhere to how the clients choose to
decide on situations. But the difference in gender and their roles in the society may affect
how they act accordingly.

▪ Gerald Corey (2011), mentioned on his book Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy
that some goals of feminist therapy include empowerment, valuing and affirming diversity, striving
for change rather than adjustment, equality, balancing independence and interdependence, social
change, and self-nurturance.

B. Counselor’s functions, roles, and skills

▪ Feminist counselor’s functions as a supporting entity to the women in the society but still
respecting the individualization and equalness of people regardless of gender.
▪ There must have a limit as to how personal life and personal beliefs should affect the counseling
capacity of the counselor by always applying professional skills to the practice.
▪ The counselor must have the skill of acquiring the client’s trust with the emphasis of social
equality and social interest.
▪ The trust between the counselor and the client will make them capable of seeing different
possibilities in life and being open minded about the client’s situation. The comfortability that the
trust will give both the client and the counselor will also affect their willingness to cooperate on
the counseling session.
▪ The feminist counselor should acquire the skill or capacity to bring out changes to the
environment where the client is.

C. Client’s Experience in counseling

▪ Feminist counseling should not be limited on women, feminist counselors also work with men
and family.
▪ The feminist counselor must use feminist perspective positively by influencing the different
clients with the positive traits of the women which is the capacity to be open with their
emotions.
▪ The openness of women can help the counselor to better understand the feelings and
emotions of the client and how they see situations in different perspective.
 ▪ The goal is to empower the client without giving her too much to be dependent with and still
having the capacity to stand and decide for herself.

FEMINIST THEORY IN COUNSELING PROCEDURES AND ITS TECHNIQUES AND

STRATEGIES

A. Assessment
1. Assessment Issues and Procedures
− assessment doesn’t entail one person judging the well-being of another
− assessment is a collaborative investigation of what’s going on in the client’s intrapsychic
world in the context of culture
− feminist therapists require fewer specific procedures because reciprocal appraisal and study
of both the client and the world s/he lives in is intrinsically therapeutic.
− Client symptoms are considered as messages about what’s wrong in the client’s world, and
they tend to reduce when handled as such and studied in a safe atmosphere

2. Standardized Assessment

Standard assessment procedures are familiar to feminist therapist, but they are rarely used since
they situate problems within the psyche of individuals – even when there is abundant evidence to
suggest the problem was initiated and supported by factors in deviant social, political, and patriarchal.
Labeling nonconforming behaviors and thoughts as deviant are being avoided by feminist. The rationale
behind this, according to Brown and Ballou (2002), is as follow: the designation of conforming beliefs,
values, and behaviors as psychopathology accomplishes two goals. First, it dismisses the person who
is referred to as such. Second, it obstructs our ability to identify forces, dynamics, and structures that
shape and acts outside of the individual (as cited in Flanagan, J.S & Flanagan, R.S, 2015).

Feminist therapy aims to avoid dismissing clients and being lured into believing that the entire
problem is contained within the individual who came to the office. However, if standardized
assessments are used, they must be done collaboratively, sensitively, and the results must be interpreted
carefully and within the context of the situation; women and people from other cultures are all too
familiar with assessment processes that can marginalize them and incorrectly label them as deviant.
The distress of the individual client is the center of feminist assessment. Exploring this dissatisfaction
with a focus on the toxic interpersonal, emotional, and spiritual triggers catches an important aspect of
feminist assessment (as cited in Flanagan, J.S & Flanagan, R.S, 2015).

B. Diagnosis

When it comes to sex, gender, and racial sensitivity, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorder (DSM) has a tumultuous history. This is only one of the numerous reasons why
feminist avoid the DSM. The DSM, which is about to enter its fifth edition, has featured and continues
to include many controversial and gender prejudiced disorders over the years. Although feminist
therapist does not refuse to diagnose clients, they do it in a way that is both educative and collaborative,
 with the client being involved directly and interactively (as cited in Flanagan, J.S & Flanagan, R.S,
2015).

C. Techniques and Strategies

1. Empowerment
− The goal of empowering the client lies at the heart of feminist strategies
− Feminist therapists are egalitarian in their approach and utilizes empowering strategies that
are adapted to each client
− Informed consent, often known as “empowerment consent”, is the first step in the process
of feminist therapy (Brown, 2010).
− informed consent provides a place to start for an egalitarian and collaborative relationship
(Corey, 2011).

2. Self-disclosure
− feminist therapists use therapeutic self-disclosure to equalize the client-therapist
relationship, provide modeling, normalize women’s collective experiences, empower
clients, and provide informed consent.
− self-disclosure isn’t just sharing information and experiences. It also entails the therapist
bringing a particular level of presence to the therapy sessions.
− By adopting what relational-cultural theorists refer to as “anticipatory empathy”, the
therapist assesses how the disclosures may affect the client

3. Gender-role Analysis and Intervention

− is a staple of feminist therapy that looks into the impact of gender-role expectations on a
client’s psychological well-being and uses that information to make judgments regarding
future gender-role behaviors
− gender-role analysis begins with client analyzing the societal messages they have received
about how women and men should be and behave

4. Power Analysis
− refers to a set of methods for assisting clients in comprehending how unequal access to
power and resources might affect their own circumstances.
− it put emphasis on the differences in power between men and women in the society

5. Bibliotherapy
− Reading about feminist perspectives on prevalent challenges in women’s lives such as
feminist perspectives on incest, rape, abuse and sexual harassment, can help a woman resist
her predispositions to blame herself for these issues
− Bibliotherapy materials include nonfiction books, psychology and counseling textbooks,
autobiographies, self-help books, educational videos, films and even novels

6. Assertive Training
 − Women learn about their interpersonal rights, transcend stereotyped gender roles,
overcome negative views, and make changes in their daily lives when assertive behavior is
taught and promoted.

7. Reframing and Relabeling

Reframing
− it incorporates the shift from “blaming the victim” to considering the social variables in the
environment that contribute to the client’s problem
− focuses on societal or political aspects instead of the intrapsychic factors

Relabeling

− it is an intervention that alters the label, or the assessment given to a behavioral

characteristic
− Its focus is to change a negative evaluation to a positive evaluation

8. Social Action
− Also known as social activism
− An essential quality of the feminist therapy
− Therapists may urge that client get engaged in activities like volunteering at a rape crisis
center, lobbying legislators, or offering community education about gender issues as their
understanding of feminism grows.

CONCLUSION

The reason upon choosing feminist theory is to eradicate most of the people’s view that feminist
theory or feminism is solely for women, this is also to clarify that feminism recognizes and does not
discredit men. It is an error to think that feminism is solely for women and its only aim is to impose
domination over men “In reality feminist theory has always been about viewing the social world in a way
that illuminates the forces that create and support oppression, and injustice” (Crossman, 2020) hence, from
this we can conclude that feminism is really for equality and it is not about hating men, feminism is about
fighting against oppression, stereotypes, discrimination, and injustice that stems from the social or gender
constructs that the society made especially when it comes to both genders, being a man and a woman. It is
also important to note the reason why men are included is that because men also struggled with the role
expectations and stereotypes that the patriarchal society constructed and gave them, for instance, for calling
them tough and strong and that they should not show their vulnerability or sensitiveness, these expectations
burden them.

Feminist theory is relevant in social work counseling because aside from the fact that this profession
recognizes the importance of gender equality, it also recognizes the importance of right approach to counsel
clients (women and other marginalized groups) using feminist perspective. In the book of Gerald Corey as
he emphasized the work of Worell and Remer (2003), these two provided important constructs of feminist
theory and these constructs are assumed to have an inclusivity in a way that it provides proper ways in
counseling women and that it also includes other members of marginalized groups, these constructs are
gender-fair approaches, a flexible-multicultural perspective, the interactionist perspective, and the life-
span perspective. In the book of Gerald Corey, it said that Worell and Remer (2003) provided these
constructs because these two are very critical to traditional theories, Corey stated that traditional theories
“grew out of a historical period in which social arrangements were assumed to be rooted in one’s
biologically based gender” he further stated that “men were assumed to be the norm and were the only
group studied or understood within the normative construct”, because of this, he stated the relevance
of the work of Worell and Remer (2003) specifically the constructs that they have provided, and to reiterate,
he said that these two were critical to traditional theories because traditional theories have these
characteristics of being “androcentric” (which is about using male-oriented constructs to draw conclusions
about human, including female, nature), “gendercentric”(which is about proposing two separate paths of
development for women and men), “heterosexist” (which pertains to viewing a heterosexual orientation as
normative and desirable thus devaluing lesbians, gay male, and bisexual orientation), “deterministic”
(which is about assuming that personality patterns and behavior are fixed at an early stage of development),
and also traditional theories having this “intrapsychic orientation” (which is about attributing behavior to
internal causes, which often results in blaming the victim and disregarding sociocultural and political
factors).

In addition to the relevance of feminism to social work counseling is its perspective on personality
development or the so called “Feminist Perspective on Personality Development” as stated by Corey. This
is grounded on the idea that gender roles and expectations started from the moment of birth, and it is deeply
internalized in the adult personality. These gender roles and expectations affect as to how boys and girls or
women and men view themselves, these gender roles and expectations bring false sense of self, for instance
in women as what Corey said Prochaska and Norcoss (2010) stated that “women are expected to be a lady,
to never swear, hit, or get angry. They should strive to please men and, above all, never offend or best a
man”. According to Gilligan (1997), these gender roles of women and their sense of self stems from “issues
of responsibility and care for other people”, this however in feminist therapy this should be attributed as
abilities of women to relate or to have connectedness with others rather than viewing it as their weaknesses,
as what other scholars stated in the book of Corey, this is about the “relational-cultural theory” that
implies that building relationships as well as connectedness is important in the lives of women thus it should
not be viewed as their weaknesses, as what Corey also stated “many techniques of feminist therapy foster
mutuality, relational capacities, and growth in connection”. It is also important to note here that women
have this internalize oppression because of sexism, and because they have this internalized oppression, in
therapy or in feminism it is important for women to be aware about it, it is important to teach clients
(women) that not knowing these internalize oppression and traditional roles can limit or impede their
freedom. In relation also to the men’s traditional roles, gender roles and expectations, in therapy it is also
important for men to realized that they are also being strictly defined and isolated to these. That is why for
Corey, in therapy it is important for both women and men to accept that they both share “mutual behavioral
characteristics”, and this is done by realizing that they are both interdependent, they are both vulnerable
and at the same time tough, rather than making them realize that they are separate and have different
behavioral characteristics.

Another relevance of feminist theory to social work counseling is that it provided clear and well-
defined principles: personal is political, commitment to social change, women’s and girl’s voices and ways
of knowing are valued, and their experiences are honored, counseling relationship as being egalitarian,
focus on strengths and a reformulated definition of psychological distress as well as recognizing all types
of oppression.

Lastly, the importance of feminist theory to social work counseling is that through feminist theory,
counseling women, men, ang other marginalized individuals have well-defined procedures, goals, roles,
functions, and specific skills that counselors must follow, and most importantly the application of these
does not exclude men. Another relevance is that it has clear techniques and strategies, namely the use of
empowerment, self-disclosure, gender-role analysis and intervention, use of power analysis, use of
bibliotherapy, assertive training, reframing and relabeling, and of course social action.