Women's Voices, Women's Lives: An Introduction to the Special Issue on Women and Counseling

In June 2000, I spoke with Judy Lewis, then president of the American Counseling Association (ACA), about the possibility of creating a division of ACA that would specifically address the needs of women. Dr. Lewis suggested it would be appropriate to begin with the establishment of a task force that would research and recommend ways in which ACA could become more responsive to the needs of women as clients, students, counselors, educators, researchers, and leaders. She asked me to chair that task force and present our recommendations to the ACA Governing Council. The creation and approval of the ACA Women's Interest Network in March 2002 was the first of the major recommendations of the task force to be implemented. The publication of this special issue on Women and Counseling is the second. The status of women is changing. As one who graduated from high school the year before The Education Amendments of 1972, or Title IX, became law, it has been evident to me that the evolution of women's athletics over the past 30 years is just one example to give us all hope and encouragement that the goal of equity is possible. However, because I live in Colorado and have followed the recent allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and exploitation of women at some of the top academic institutions in the state, it is evident that our work for social justice for women needs to continue. The goal of this special issue was to focus on the multiple perspectives of women within the counseling profession as educators, clients, practitioners, and leaders. What emerged was a rich, contextual description of women's experiences, contributions, challenges, needs, and successes related to the counseling profession. The intersection of women's experiences of color, gender, class, ability, and sexual orientation became the unexpected focus of the issue, providing insights into the complexities of women's lives. Although there are universal experiences related to being a woman, the unique lenses through which each of us views the world, including the prejudices and privileges we experience, vary greatly. Admittedly, we can never fully comprehend the other's viewing point, but the attempts we make to do so are crucial. This special issue is one such attempt, and, because of this, its contribution is significant. Several themes emerged in this special issue. The area of women's leadership was discussed from a variety of perspectives. In their phenomenological study of female leaders in the counseling profession, Linda Black and Sandy Magnuson explored the views of the leaders themselves, as well as their proteges, and found that female leaders tend to attribute the causes of their successes to external factors such as chance and time and were focused on promoting the common good rather than individual gain. Several authors noted that the values of hard work and supporting the common good are rooted in the female leaders' familial and cultural contexts. In their discussion of Native Indian female leaders, Tarrell Awe Agahe Portman and Michael Tlanusta Garrett beautifully described the connection of these same values to the continuation of the web or circle of life. Challon Casto, Charmaine Caldwell, and Carmen Salazar shared their own experiences as mentees and mentor in order to pass along the knowledge of this unique relationship to future generations of female leaders within the counseling profession. Dena Moore gives voice to the lives and experiences of women with severe disabilities that prevent them from being in the workplace, and we learn that the women in this potentially disenfranchised group find purpose in life through leadership by giving to and being of service to others. Another emergent theme in this special issue was the importance of addressing not only the individual aspects of change for women but also the social, political, and cultural aspects. As targets of multiple forms of oppression, such as sexism, racism, and classism, women must be able to see change as a systemic process. …