Videotaped vignettes of two 35-year old women and two 20-year old women who portrayed problems about the fear of rape, existential anxiety, choice of a college major in social work, or choice of a college major in engineering were shown to 88 male/female counselors. Results indicated that the two personal-social problems were rated as more serious than the vocational problems on all dependent measures. Additionally, the feared rape problem was considered the most serious and needing the most counseling sessions, whereas the women with existenial anxiety were perceived as being most able to profit from counseling, and were offered the most empathy. These findings suggest that counselors respond differentially to women with different characteristics. (Author)