Gender Dynamics in Clinical Supervision

With an increased understanding that gender is fundamental to the supervisory relationship, scholars have turned their attention to gender issues in clinical supervision. In fact, besides race, gender appears to be one of the most frequently addressed cultural topics in supervision. Interestingly, the conceptualization of gender in clinical supervision literature seems to have changed over time. Early literature on gender issues in supervision tended to focus on gender as a biologically determined variable; recently, scholars have conceptualized gender as socially constructed and inextricably tied to societal attitudes, values, and belief systems. This entry discusses the influence of gender on the supervisory process in counseling and psychotherapy.