Inclusion and exclusion in a feminized profession

What is it about?

What kind person immediately comes to mind when we imagine certain professionals? Doctor? Nurse? Counselling psychologist, for instance? This article attempts to understand how such images may come into being. I analyse how in female-dominated profession of psychological counselling in Russia practitioners talk about what it means to be professional. Through using and developing the concept of a 'glass slipper' I explain how these 'rules' create a link between embodied identity characteristics -age, class and gender - and a collective occupation identity of this profession - i.e. the overall perceived image of a 'typical' or an 'ideal' psychological therapist.

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Why is it important?

The paper draws on and develops the concept of a 'glass slipper' and exposes how complex patterns of inclusion and exclusion emerge in this female-dominated profession.