GENDER SPECIFIC COUNSELLING

Gender refers to the economic, social and cultural attributes and opportunities associated with
being male or female in a particular social setting at a particular point in time.

For example, both men and women in our culture perform the role of parents. But the
responsibilities, functions and privileges given to a male parent is vastly different from that of a
female parent. There is a not natural division of labour between them even though most of the
roles like child rearing, preparing food, socialisation etc can be done equally well by both
parents.

Sex is the biological difference between males and females. The physiological make up of men
and women are different.

Gender equality means equal treatment of women and men in laws and policies, and equal
access to resources and services within families, communities and society at large. It is that
condition in which rights, duties and responsibilities and opportunities of individuals will not be
determined by the fact of being born male or female. For example, gender equality can be seen if
there is no distinction between men and women in terms of wages paid for same work.

Gender equity means fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits and responsibilities
between women and men. It often requires women-specific programmes and policies to end
existing inequalities.

Gender discrimination refers to any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of
socially constructed gender roles and norms which prevents a person from enjoying full human
rights. When a girl is not allowed to pursue a particular area of study because that is not a
culturally common area for study for women or when a boy is ridiculed or not allowed to take up
some activity which is predominantly done by women and girls.

Gender role refers to the activities or behaviours typically associated with women or men. For
example women are generally seen as having the role of nurturers and care givers in family while
men are perceived as providers.

Gender stereotypes refer to the beliefs associated with the characteristics and personalities
appropriate to men and women. The concepts of gender roles and gender stereotypes are related.
When people associate a pattern of behaviour with either women or men, they may overlook the
individual variations and exceptions and come to believe that the behaviour is inevitably
associated with one gender but not the other. Therefore, gender roles can become gender
stereotypes.

Gender stereotypes are very influential; they affect conceptualisation of women and men and
establish social categories for gender, these categories represent what people think, and even
when beliefs vary from reality, beliefs can be very powerful forces in judgements of self and
others. Eg:- Women are weak, men are aggressive and brave etc. Gender roles are acquired
through the process of socialisation. Various theories explain the process of gender development
in a variety of ways.

NEED FOR COUNSELLING WOMEN

 It will be useful to consider a life span approach because the problems faced by women
vary greatly during different periods in their life. But we can also see some common
concerns running underneath these age specific issues also.
 During childhood and adolescence, the stress must be on building self esteem and a
positive self image among girls. Many studies have found that adolescent girls have
significantly lower rates of self esteem than the boys of their age.
 There is always a conflict between the need to achieve success and the need to conform
to the society’s gender expectations. Counselling during this stage must take into account
these factors
 During adulthood, young women take up numerous new roles, like that of a wife, mother
and of career woman. All these involve very specific gender expectations.
 The gender inequality and discrimination may create a lot of problems in role
performances. This can affect relationships, work and personal well being.
 The conflict over women’s dual role as home maker and career women is a major one.
 The life events like marriage, pregnancy and child birth are potentially traumatic, even
without the gender stereotypes and discrimination.
 Middle aged and older women face physical as well as emotional problems like failing
health, loss of spouse, feeling of uselessness, loneliness, lack or recognition etc.
 Apart from these, women at all stages of life require assistance in dealing with most of
the problems discussed earlier.
 Problems like emotional and physical violence and abuse, need for legal, medical as well
as career guidance, lack of awareness regarding opportunities and traditional attitudes and
stereotypes about gender roles are all potential areas where counselling is needed.
IMPLICATIONS FOR MEN
 At times the existing gender equations place men in a disadvantaged and even powerless
position.
 Men are expected to behave in a rigidly defined manner by the society. In our society, this
may require men to be always strong, aggressive and capable of coping effectively with
all problems that life may pose.
 Men are expected always to succeed, take care of their dependents. This actually puts
men in a difficult and impossible situation because nobody can be always successful and
strong and without weaknesses. Men are also human beings who have inherent
shortcomings and difficulties.
 On a more practical level, a large number of men in our culture are the sole bread winners
of their families and are required by the same culture which prohibits women to take
 decisions and to earn for themselves to fend for the family alone. This can and is creating
a lot of stress and strain in the interpersonal relationships of men and their health.
 Men are more prone to suicides and stress induced illnesses like cardio vascular
problems, hypertension, alcoholism and so on.
 Here also counselling has great scope in mitigating problems which emanate from the
demands made by gender stereotypes

GENDER SPECIFIC COUNSELLING

Gender role expectations and performances can disadvantage both men and women. They can be
potential sources of stress or problems for any individual.

Gender specific differences in expectations and gender discrimination can lead to problem
situations that require counselling assistance.

Moreover, many problems dealt with by the counsellor stems from gender inequality and gender
bias or the lack of awareness regarding gender differences in needs.

The counsellor has to take into account these inequalities in most instances of working with
women. Working mothers, for example, experience their lives differently from working fathers,
largely as a result of differing expectations and social value placed on their different activities.

The rise of feminism and the start of a men’s movement have already influenced many
counsellors of both sexes to undertake counselling and helping with a greater focus on healing
psychological distress stemming from restrictive gender role socialisation and sexism

The counselling interventions which take into account these gender back ground of problems are
mainly Gender- Aware- therapy (GAT) and feminist approaches to counselling

GENDER- AWARE-THERAPY (GAT)

Gender aware therapy is one approach that specifically encourages therapists to explore gender
related experiences with both women and men.

The principles of GAT would enhance all three dimensions of multicultural competencies in
practice viz. awareness of own assumptions, values and biases in understanding the worldview of
the culturally different client and developing appropriate intervention strategies and techniques.
Five principles are identified :

1) gender issues must be integrated into counselling and therapy equally with women and men
(for example, problems related to child care is discussed with men in the same way as they
would with women);
2) problems which arise in counselling must, where relevant, be linked clearly to their social
origins (for example, stress and anxiety which are created by a lack of availability of quality
child care provision should be related to systems failure in the provision of this service);

3) collusion with gender stereotypical solutions to problems must be avoided (for example,
women experiencing stress and anxiety because of a lack of availability of quality childcare
provision should not to be encouraged to give up work or to work part time);

4) Collaborative therapeutic relationships must be developed in preference to an expert therapist

5) and most important, client’s freedom to choose must be respected, rather than imposing a
value position.

Overall, an important goal of GAT is to help clients learn to act in new ways that will allow them
to develop in a manner not constrained by stereotypical gender assumptions.

The first, fourth and fifth GAT principles imply particular skills and techniques which should be
adopted by therapists in practice.

The second principle implies increased knowledge and understanding about the precise nature
and extent of gender inequalities within all aspects of society, together with their consequences.

The third GAT principle implies the need for all therapists to increase their own self-awareness
about gender issues as well as their awareness of gender stereotypes which operate generally.
Where gender role issues are involved, it is possible to state helping goals for both sexes and for
each sex.

Gender – aware helping for both sexes involve general goals that include assisting individual
clients to use their strengths and potential, make appropriate choices, remedy poor skills and
develop positive and flexible self- concepts.

Helping goals for men can include:

 addressing excessive need for success, power and competition, restrictive emotionality, and
restrictive affectionate behavior between men.

 other helping goals for men clients include stopping being physically violent both inside and
outside of the home dealing with work- related stress,

 overcoming tendencies to treat women as sexual objects and

 developing better healthcare skills. Since women are redefining their gender roles faster than
men, many men are then put in positions of exploring, understanding and altering their own
gender roles. Positive maleness, combining tenderness and toughness and treating women with
respect and as equals, is a desirable outcome from this change process.

Essential goals for helping women are women valuing themselves on their own terms and
women becoming free of sex role stereotypes. Statements of goals that take women’s sex and
gender issues into account can focus both on women’s life span issues and on problems that are
much more commonly faced by women than men. For example, gender aware helpers can
counsel mid life women to cope with menopause constructively. In addition, suitably trained and
qualified helpers can assist women to address issues such as lack of assertiveness skills, eating
disorders, domestic violence, sexual harassment and career planning