What were experiences within the field of psychology like for women from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century?
Now that you have a better understanding of what feminism is and isn’t, let’s explore how feminism has influenced psychology. Much like the women’s movement, discussed earlier in this chapter, it took many years for feminism to transform the field of psychology. Throughout the history of American psychology, many individual women have worked toward change, and coalitions of women have collaborated to end discriminatory practices within the field. There have been some dramatic moments. Historians confirm that without feminist activism, the field of psychology would be very different from what it is today (Rutherford & Granek, 2010).
In the Beginning
At the end of the 19th century, corresponding with the first wave of feminism, a select group of women were entering the field of psychology for the first time. It’s hard to imagine the world in which these first-generation female psychologists worked. Most female applicants were denied entrance into graduate programs, but some women—mostly wealthy and White—found ways to study psychology (Rutherford & Granek, 2010). For example, in 1890, with the help of her father and the president of Wellesley College, Mary Whiton Calkins petitioned Harvard University to let her sit in on psychology lectures. Although she completed all the courses required for a PhD and later became the first female president of the American Psychological Association (APA), she was never awarded her degree, either in her lifetime or after her death. It wasn’t until 1894 that Margaret Floy Washburn became the first woman to receive a PhD in psychology—from Cornell University. Helen Thompson-Woolley, who earned her PhD from the University of Chicago in 1900, published the first dissertation that examined sex/gender differences.
These women were pioneers who strategically used the scientific method to challenge prevailing sexism. Most of their research focused on disputing biological determinism, the belief that the differences between women and men are biologically fixed. In the early 20th century, female psychologists conducted studies exploring how cultural expectations influence the perceived differences between women and men. These early psychologists were resisting biased ideas, and although they didn’t realize it at the time, they were facing a feminist predicament that continues today—a topic we’ll explore in more detail in Chapter 3.
Early 20th Century
In the early 20th century, more diverse women began to study psychology. In 1933, Inez Beverly Prosser became the first Black woman to earn a doctorate in psychology. However, it wasn’t until 1962 that Martha Bernal became the first Latinx woman to earn a PhD in psychology in the United States. She also self-identified as a lesbian.
Women of color faced double (and sometimes triple) discrimination connected to their multiple minority status. One such well-known Black female psychologist, Mamie Phipps Clark, was awarded her PhD in 1944. At the time, she was the only Black student pursuing a PhD in psychology at Columbia University. As just one of the challenges she faced, her academic advisor believed in racial segregation. Moreover, she subsequently couldn’t find a job because most job descriptions were for men only. This barrier, however, didn’t stop her desire to make a difference in the field of psychology. She observed that young Black children were disproportionately affected by poverty and had limited access to quality psychological assessment and treatments. When she realized that existing clinics weren’t going to extend services to poor Black children from Harlem in New York City, she started the Northside Center for Child Development in a one-room basement apartment. More than 70 years later, the center now provides services to more than 3,600 children and families each year.
Dr. Mamie Phipps Clark started the Northside Center for Child Development in a one-room basement apartment. More than 70 years later, the center now provides services to more than 3,600 children and families each year.
Moreover, Dr. Clark’s research was critical to the historic Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). With her husband, psychologist Kenneth Clark, she published several studies showing how Black children were affected by racism. In the famous doll study, children were shown two dolls: one White and one Black (Clark & Clark, 1947). They were given a series of instructions: “Show me the doll that is the nice doll,” “Show me the doll that looks bad,” “Show me the doll that you like best.” The Black children consistently showed a preference for the White doll, which, according to the Clarks, was evidence of internalized racism. This conclusion helped persuade the Supreme Court to rule against segregation in U.S. public schools.
Although there have been critiques of both the methodology and the interpretation of results from the Clarks’ studies, the doll experiment was the first time social science served as evidence in a Supreme Court case. Today it is standard practice to rely on psychological research in court hearings. Interestingly, most psychology students don’t know that the doll study was based on Mamie Clark’s master’s thesis. Although it’s a famous case, and one studied by many psychology students, it’s Kenneth Clark who generally gets credit for its influence. In many ways, Mamie Clark used her training to fight against social injustice, even when she herself was facing discrimination.
Mid-20th Century
What factors contributed to, and signaled the formation of, a specific discipline of psychology of women?
Although many women were working to undermine sexism in psychology, it wasn’t until the 1960s that the field psychology of women emerged. This corresponded with an upswing in civil rights activism in the United States and other parts of the world. In 1963, author and activist Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, in which she identified Sigmund Freud and the entire field of psychology as being partially responsible for women’s oppression (Eagly, Eaton, Rose, Riger, & McHugh, 2012; Friedan, 1963). Before the 1960s and 1970s, psychological research was almost “womanless” (Crawford & Marecek, 1989, p. 147). Most studies didn’t include girls or women, and when they were included, the research questions and methods were based on biased assumptions. When women were found to be different from men on various measures, the results were generally interpreted as indicating that women were inferior to men (Shields, 1975, 2007; Rutherford & Granek, 2010). Such differences were interpreted as arising from innate, generally biological, factors.
This practice was critiqued in psychologist Naomi Weisstein’s (1968/1992) publication “Psychology Constructs the Female; or, The Fantasy Life of the Male Psychologist (With Some Attention to the Fantasies of His Friends the Male Biologist, and the Male Anthropologist).” Psychologist Carolyn Wood Sherif (1979) would later refer to Weisstein’s publication as a “feminist shot that ricocheted down the halls between psychology laboratories and clinics, hitting its target dead-center” (p. 58). By effectively using experimental research to show how social expectations influence psychological research and practice, Weisstein revealed a glaring bias. She argued that the second-class status of women was responsible for many of the psychological effects observed in women. In other words, until that point, psychologists hadn’t considered how discrimination against women influenced their studies about women.
Further, the clinical practice of psychology often involved sexist practices in which clinicians abused their power over clients. Feminist psychologist Rachel Hare-Mustin recounted attending a session at an American Psychological Association convention in the early 1970s where four male clinical psychologists debated the merits of having sex with their clients (Hare-Mustin, 2017). She was shocked. Because of subsequent feminist activism, the APA revised its Ethical Standards to prohibit sexual contact between a therapist and a client. Today clients seek disciplinary action against psychologists concerning sexual misconduct in therapy (Pope, 1993). The fact that the public understands the damaging effects of therapists’ sexual exploitation is a direct result of activism among feminist psychologists.
It may be hard to imagine now, but until 1969, female psychologists were excluded from participating in much of the field. For example, job descriptions were organized by sex, and few women held high-ranking positions. Psychologist Nancy Henley, reflecting on this time, spoke of how women’s role in research was even called out with different practices related to referencing: “in the reference lists, men’s names were listed with initials only. Women’s names had to have their first name so you could see they were women” (Henley, 2005, p. 5). Such discrimination was frustrating for the women who had spent years in school working to become psychologists, but a tipping point occurred in the late 1960s. Angered by the APA’s overt sexism and lack of female leadership, several psychologists formed an alternative organization, the Association for Women in Psychology (AWP). In 1970, ten AWP members stormed a Town Hall meeting of the APA, presenting a list of 52 resolutions that they thought could address sexism within psychology. They demanded immediate action. This famous activist moment, referred to as the Storming of Council, was a catalyst for change within the field of psychology.
From 1969 to 1973, women spent many hours organizing and petitioning the APA to approve the formation of a division that solely focused on women. When Division 35 of the APA, the Society for the Psychology of Women, was finally formed, its mission was “to foster and nurture the growth of a feminist psychology of women and to create a knowledge base relevant to women’s lives” (Mednick & Urbanski, 1991, p. 652).
With an increased focus on girls and women, feminist psychologists turned their attention to developing college courses and textbooks. This move not only provided academic legitimacy but also helped to build feminist consciousness on college campuses (Unger, 2010). With many more psychology students discussing concerns that disproportionately affected girls and women, a renewed commitment to feminism blossomed. Another sign that the psychology of women was flourishing was the development of specialized journals, including Sex Roles (1975), Psychology of Women Quarterly (1976), Women & Therapy (1982), and Feminism & Psychology (1991). These journals have helped to disseminate research to colleges and universities throughout the world and are critical to the production and sharing of gender research. Indeed, much of the research reviewed in this book was conducted by feminist psychologists using the scientific method to better understand the experiences of girls and women.
Late 20th Century into the 21st Century
How have feminists challenged the way that knowledge is produced and interpreted?
As feminist psychologists were developing organizations, academic programs, courses, and journals to enhance knowledge and scientific credibility, another competing movement arose in the late 20th century. Probably due to Weisstein’s publication and a broader feminist critique of science that was happening in the early 1980s, feminist psychologists began to critique the scientific method and its philosophical underpinnings. In particular, they questioned the assumption of positivism, the idea that science is progressive and cumulative and that it relies on objectivity, neutrality, and rationality. In other words, feminist psychologists were calling attention to the ways scientists bring their own perspectives into what they study (Keller, 1987). This may be less obvious when the scientists are in powerful and privileged positions—their truth can simply look like the truth (Fine, 1994). However, according to critics, the positivist claim that scientists have access to a detached and objective truth reflects power and an inherently masculine approach.
Feminist psychologists also critiqued the positivist view that science could discover universal psychological truths. Instead, they proposed that it was possible for multiple truths to exist. This viewpoint was shared by scholars involved in the multicultural movement within psychology that began in the 1960s and 1970s. The movement sought greater diversity and inclusion in the discipline of psychology, including in psychological research. As multiculturalism and feminism became influential perspectives within psychology, feminist psychologists began to develop feminist epistemologies, or new ways to critique and produce methods of creating knowledge that attempt to address biases against certain groups of people, including girls and women. We’ll focus on these ideas in more detail in the next section of this chapter.
try it for yourself
Go to the website feministvoices.com. Explore the Women Past section, which features female psychologists who received their PhDs before 1950. Then explore the Feminist Presence section, which features female psychologists who received their PhDs after 1950. Imagine that women from the present could speak to women of the past. What would they say to each other? Watch the video The Changing Face of Feminist Psychology. How do prominent feminist psychologists discuss the changes in the field?
