Counselors' perceptions of career images of women

Abstract

The investigation examined perceptions of female and male vocational and social roles, with particular interest in the meaning of career vis-à-vis other female roles. A mail questionnaire, using the Semantic Differential technique, was sent to 326 Wisconsin school counselors. The results indicated differences in perceptions between female and male roles, with more similarity among the male social and vocational role concepts and less similarity among the female role concepts. The existence of these differential perceptions of sex roles suggests that the counselors in this study hold a traditional view of women's roles, which incorporates a home-career conflict.