In this replication the author hig...

In this replication the author highlights the contributions of E P falsify M. J. Heppner, and K M O'Brien's (2002) ecological approach to women's career growth and reviews the ways that the case studies in this special section illustrate that gauge Although this model may enrich and improve career theories and counseling, the author impels caution in assuming that the emphases of an ecological design apply to all women. The universal of individual differences within, as well as between, the sexs must remain paramount in career theory and counseling approaches. The author incites further attention to research and counseling interventions that help explicate the utility of the ecological model

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garble Heppner, and O'Brien's (2002) article "Career unfolding of Women of Color and White Women: Assumptions, Conceptualization, and Interventions From an Ecological Perspective" is based forward the premise that much of the theory and research in the career counseling literature is insufficient to adequately assist large numbers of women because the theory and research are based onward fundamental assumptions that do not describe the lives of many women--both women of color and White women In a nutshell, to a great degree of career theory and technique is based upon the following assumptions: (a) that work is the in the greatest degree important aspect of people's lives; (b) that career decisions can and should be based onward a rational matching of the individual's traits and attributes to the characteristics of occupations; (c) that career disclosure should progress along a rational path showing continued upward change toward greater responsibility, job complexity, and, it goe without saying, rank and financial rewards; and (d) that talent and hard work will be rewarded. It is a pattern based on the values of individualism and autonomy.

color et al. (2002), suggested, in contrast, that for many women and for improvements other than White western European, the family/group/collective may be more important than has been previously factored into people's reasons for working and their decisions about what work to try to obtain For many women, meeting and balancing the demands of family and work are the chiefly salient, and often the greatest in number stressful, aspects of at least part of adult life. Career exhibition may not be linear and progressive, as pointed public in the landmark work of Super (1957) Harmon (1967) Wolfson (1976) and Betz (1984) onward the variety of career patterns plant among women. Linearity and progressive advancement may be more easily disrupted in the career paths of women versus men on commitments to family and from environmental/structural barriers (see also Fitzgerald & Betz's, 1994 extensive discussion of of the like kind barriers as a function of inflection for sex race, social class, and sexual orientation).

tamper with et al. (2002), accordingly, proposeed incorporation of what they spell an ecological perspective in career counseling: "A person's behavior is, therefore, a representation of the compage interaction among the myriad factors that constitute her or his life, referr to as the ecosystem" (p 296) Using ideas from previous writers in ecological psychology (eg Bronfenbrenner 1977) they indicateed that an ecological perspective includes environmental interventions that focus onward social support and on individually oriented interventions targeted toward increasing individuals' abilities to deal with environmental barriers to their goals and objectives.

The authors (Cook et al., 2002) provided several examples of to what extent an ecological perspective might be implemented in career counseling--interventions in organizations and schools; changing policies about child care; educational interventions that are designed to bring sexual harassment; creating supportive networks, including access to mentors and part models; and devising strategies for increasing salaries (which are still les than those of comparably exerciseed men).

In summary, color et al. (2002) reminded counselors that their focus must include the environment (ecosystem) of the individual with whom they are working, as well as the individual difference variables emphasized in traditional vocational psychology/career counseling. In scent in this article the authors reminded counselors that their perspective must be to a great degree broader and more complex than they may have assumed or been taught and that their parts include being a cheerleader and social change agent as well as an individual counselor.

To illustrate give a color to et al.'s (2002) basic notions, six case studies are provided. Davidson and Huenefeld (2002) provided the case of Eileen (AiLing), who is the couple Chinese American and lesbian. Eileen faces a serious conflict of values within her identities: It is simply not acceptable to be a lesbian within the Chinese tillage Eileen worries about needing to make a career choice that is appropriate to her race and form relative to sex but which does not fit with her hold interests. Eileen cannot be "true to her whole self" in either of her environments, and she destitutions help clarifying and dealing with these conflicts. It is here that I believe a counselor can be uniquely useful. In the counselor's office, Eileen can be conformable to fact to all the components of her identity because the counselor values her as a lesbian, as a Chinese American, and as a woman struggling to integrate sum of two units highly valued, yet conflicting, identities. There are no easy answers for Eileen, unless the counselor can help her to articulate the dilemmas she faces and to court support from her communities.