WOMEN IN COUNSELING

During the last few years many new types of counselling institutions, offices, firms, and agencies dealing with giving advice have come into existence: In Poland, women's participation in these new institutions as well as in the traditional counselling offices differs depending o n the type of problems which are solved there. Women more often fulfil l the role of counsellor in counselling offices dealing with health, f amily, and childcare, which are traditionally treated as women's issue s. At the same time, more women than men apply for counsel in these ty pes of counselling offices. By contrast, in the new types of counselli ng/guidance offices dealing with economic, legal, and management probl ems, a woman counsellor appears more rarely than a man counsellor. Whe n there are women in these new types of counselling offices, these wom en are forced to continuously demonstrate their competence and experti se. Women also more rarely use counsel given in the matters of economy , law, and management, but, as counsellors noticed, if a woman applies for advice, she is usually better informed and better prepared for ta king advantage of the advice.