CHAPTER 12
Psychology of Women and Gender
JEANNE MARECEK, ELLEN B. KIMMEL, MARY CRAWFORD, AND RACHEL T. HARE-MUSTIN
249SETTING THE STAGE 250
SECOND-WAVE FEMINISM AND PSYCHOLOGY 250
FRAMEWORKS FOR STUDYING WOMEN
AND GENDER 251
The First Wave (c. 1876–1920) 251
The Second Wave (c. 1970–the Present) 252
CLINICAL PRACTICE, COUNSELING, AND
FEMINIST THERAPY 256
Biases in Diagnosis and Clinical Judgment 257
Feminist Approaches to Therapy 258
ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVISM 260
The National Council of Women Psychologists 260
Society for the Psychological Study of
Social Issues 260
The Association for Women in Psychology 260
The Society for the Psychology of Women of the American
Psychological Association (Division 35) 261
The APA Committee on Women in Psychology 261
The APA Women’s Programs Office 261
Other Activities 262
The Section on Women and Psychology of the Canadian
Psychological Association 262
The Psychology of Women Section of the British
Psychological Association 262
SUMMING UP AND LOOKING AHEAD 262
Research, Scholarship, and Pedagogy 262
Feminist Clinical and Counseling Practice 263
Confronting the Backlash 263
CONCLUSION 264
REFERENCES 264In 1910, Helen Thompson Woolley rendered the following
assessment of psychology’s claims about women: “There is
perhaps no field aspiring to be scientific where flagrant per-
sonal bias, logic martyred in the cause of supporting a preju-
dice, unfounded assertions, and even sentimental rot and
drivel, have run riot to such an extent as here” (p. 340). Now,
over 90 years since Woolley’s assessment, that charge no
longer stands. Galvanized by the second wave of feminism,
the field of psychology of women and gender has produced a
large and diverse body of research, theory, and methodologi-
cal critique and innovation. Born in the late 1960s, the field is
young in comparison to many other fields of psychology;
thus, its history is short.
The field of psychology of women and gender is pluralist
and multifaceted. Psychologists have posed questions about
sex and gender in virtually every area of psychology. They
have allegiances to a broad range of intellectual frameworks,
and they espouse diverse modes of inquiry and approaches
to clinical practice. Feminism has always centered on ending
the subordination of women, but today feminism encom-
passes a wide spectrum of additional ideas, theories, and prac-
tices. Among feminist psychologists, this spectrum is fully
represented. A key strength of the field is that diverse points
of view are brought into interaction, leading to productive
intellectual interchange and new developments. Moreover,
many feminist psychologists have close connections (or joint
appointments) with women’s studies programs. These connec-
tions infuse feminist psychology with the knowledge and
perspectives of other disciplines, such as history, sociology,
and philosophy of science. An interdisciplinary stance has
prompted some to formulate innovative research questions
and to experiment with research approaches from other dis-
ciplines. For some, an interdisciplinary stance has also fos-
tered a critical consciousness of the powers and limits of
psychology’s epistemological, theoretical, and methodologi-
cal commitments.
Feminist psychologists have continually engaged in ongo-
ing critical conversations about how best to study gender and
how best to do psychology—whether as researchers, practi-
tioners, teachers, or activists. Indeed, skepticism about con-
ventional ways of doing psychology has been a hallmark of
feminist psychology. Feminists have noted that psychologi-
cal knowledge has often served the interests of social groups
of which psychologists are part. Historically, most psycholo-
gists have been white, middle or upper-middle class, and
male. Feminists also have analyzed the intellectual habits that