Maria Carzola is a 39-year-old single mother of two. She is of Latino descent and works as a clerical officer at Intex Technologies. She has been in employment for the last 15 years starting off as a cleaner and later climbed up the career ladder. With a high school education, Maria has done much for herself and continued to build on her skills through various training platforms availed to her in her multiple workplaces. Nevertheless, her journey to the clerical officer position has been mired by a number of challenges stemming from the prevailing societal norms.
The client, Maria, did not manage to rise above a high school education given her socio-economic background. Growing up in a large extended family, Maria had to focus on sourcing part-time jobs to supplement her family’s incomes to support her other siblings and older relatives. Growing in the ghetto projects, Maria lacked sufficient access to various amenities which would have propelled to tap her full potential as a young visionary woman. Her first attempt at a formal job was faced by stereotypical sentiments that focused on her status as a single mother. The recruiting panel wanted to know how she would balance her responsibilities as both a mother and career woman.
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The three major diversity issues faced by Maria in her career development are inequality in the workplace, role conflict, and sexual harassment. The disparity at the workplace has characterized the client’s whole career. In her first job as a cleaner, she had to contend with getting less pay in comparison to her white companions. This was a tradition that had been entrenched in the particular workplace. She had to put up with the state of affairs as she was desperate to retain her job to fend for her family.
Additionally, she was less attuned to the Equal Employment Opportunity laws which could have protected from such inequality. Despite being the only female employee of Latina descent in the said cleaning agency, she had to put up with poor appraisal plans which favored her male counterparts. She narrates that some of the unit supervisors were less qualified than her but due to the inequality at the workplace, they assumed the top positions. Much of the supervisory and managerial opportunities at the workplace were left for the men while women were relegated to the subservient roles. Her experiences are corroborated by Andersen and Taylor (2013) in their 2009 study based on median incomes by gender and race for full-time workers where they established
“White men (non-Hispanics) received significantly higher pay than female Whites. The same was true for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. The differences between African men and women and between Hispanic men and women, however, were not as large as the differences between White men and women” (Andersen & Taylor, 2013).
Role conflict was also notable from the client’s confessions. Role conflict is usually described as a “system of competing demands from different roles” (Zunker, 2012). For Maria, family roles and work roles conflicted in the early years of her career. Being a single mother after a divorce, she had to act as both the breadwinner and a homemaker. Many times this conflict had a toll on her seeing her arrive at her workplace late and fatigued. The role conflict was prominent in the manner her supervisors handled her. Many instances notable responsibilities bypassed her as the supervisors could not trust her to deliver given her baggage as a single mother from a poor background. Ms. Carzola contends that if she were married the situation would have been much better as role-sharing would have been achieved at home.
Nevertheless, this notion is countered by a study which highlights that “the chances of role conflict increase, however, when the husband or both husband and wife believe that men should continue to fulfill the traditional role of family breadwinner” (Zunker, 2012). The Latina community in the recent decades has seen men take up more active roles at home which has been fundamental in fuelling balanced roles allocation. However, despite the Latina women being relieved much of these roles, they continue “to do the most work and assume the most responsibility for household tasks” (Zunker, 2012). Maria, nevertheless, has managed to diffuse much of the role conflict by enlisting some of her relatives in complementing her input at home. Division of labor has been instrumental at home in providing Maria ample time to participate in training programs that empower her with the necessary expertise that saw her land her current position as a clerical officer.
Sexual harassment is a significant diversity issue. It is very rife in many career development narratives. It entails any unwelcome sexual overtures or requests for sexual favors (Zunker, 2012). Women are the most affected of both genders. This conduct creates a hostile working environment. For Maria’s case, the sexual harassment has been a major impediment for her career growth. The major perpetrators of this vice have been her workmates and supervisors. She has learned to turn away the perpetrators respectfully but, in some cases, she has suffered from career barriers with some of her supervisors who refused to appraise her for not giving in to their advances. In some cases, the behavior was extreme with some of her perpetrators stalking her home.
In cognizance of the above issues, career counseling must take into consideration the client’s cultural context. By understanding the social norms that characterize Maria’s background, appropriate counsel can be given. This ensures that the client can connect with the advice given and incorporate it into her career growth narrative. The counselor must also integrate the client’s worldview (Andersen & Taylor, 2013). For instance, Maria hails from a collectivist society; therefore, any advice should be taken from its implication on the larger family or community that she hails from. Acculturation should also be focused to appreciate how much the client has assumed behaviors, beliefs, and values of the prevailing major culture. This will be important in the packaging of information which the client ought to synthesize in the quest to thrive career-wise in a diverse work environment.
In availing career counseling, biases and assumptions can impair the whole process. It may see the counselor project his or her views, beliefs and values on the client. This may create an uncomfortable platform for both parties (Plant, 2008). It may also look at the feelings of neglect on the client’s end. He or she may struggle to understand the counselor’s viewpoint and in turn feel that the exchanges are intrusive and offensive. To avert such biases, it is prudent that the counselor adopts self-awareness. This ensures that both the client and the counselor are aware of their different cultures and worldviews. It is through this understanding that cultural-sensitive advice can be given. Ethical knowledge is also important as it guides a counselor on the do’s and don’ts when it comes to engaging the clients (Plant, 2008). Adaptability is also key in avoiding biases and assumptions. This means that the counselor must learn how best to adapt to the client’s circumstances and operational context. In this instance, Maria’s challenges should be viewed from her cultural background and handled as such. Eclecticism must be observed in all aspects of counseling. This means that not only the culture but also socio-political elements must be addressed in an attempt to emerge effectively as a counselor.
References
Andersen, M. L., & Taylor, H. F. (2013). Sociology: Understanding a diverse society . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Plant, P. (2008). Ways: On career guidance . Copenhagen: Danish University of Education Press.
Zunker, V. G. (2012). Career counseling: A holistic approach . South Melbourne: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.
