260 Psychology of Women and Gender
the literature on feminist therapy discusses these in detail
(Wyche & Rice, 1997). More generally, feminist therapists
strive to find ways to affirm clients’ competence and their
right and responsibility to make choices about their lives.
In sum, feminist approaches to clinical psychology have
offered new perspectives on clinical disorders of women and
girls. Feminists have challenged diagnostic and treatment
practices, ethical codes, and theoretical constructs that have
worked against women’s interests. Feminist therapists have
offered new ideas about the conduct of therapy and new mod-
els for treating problems common to women. Many of their
ideas were iconoclastic when feminist therapy began in the
early 1970s; now they are widely accepted. For example, it is
no longer radical for therapists to encourage women to work
outside the home. It is no longer radical to raise questions
about equality and fairness with couples in marital therapy. It
is now unexceptional to view single life and lesbian relation-
ships as fulfilling lifestyle choices.
ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVISM
For many feminist psychologists, exposing inequity and in-
justices that women face is the very core of their work. They
also hold an ethic that uncovering abuses of power must be
accompanied by actions aimed at reform and redress. This
has required organizational structures that support and foster
research, practice, and activism. Several organizations have
provided venues for addressing issues of importance in the
field of the psychology of women and gender.
The National Council of Women Psychologists
The National Council of Women Psychologists (NCWP) was
founded in 1941. During World War II, women were not al-
lowed to be part of the defense system of the country.
Mildred Mitchell, who worked for the U.S. military, Gladys
Schwesinger, and other women protested the exclusion of
women (Capshew & Laszlo, 1986; Frances M. Culbertson,
personal communication, March 1, 2001). They founded the
NCWP to develop and promote emergency services that
women psychologists could render. After the war, the group
continued to carry out projects that promoted the careers of
women psychologists, such as a newsletter of employment
opportunities. In 1947, the name was changed to the Interna-
tional Council of Women Psychologists and membership
opened to women outside the United States. The organization
remained a women’s organization until 1960; at that point,
men were admitted and the group became the International
Council of Psychologists.
Society for the Psychological Study of Social IssuesFounded in 1937, the Society for the Psychological Study of
Social Issues (SPSSI) was one of the earliest groups to advo-
cate for social action research. Despite its commitment to so-
cial justice, however, SPSSI did not focus on women’s issues
until the 1970s. With the women’s movement of the 1970s,
the number of women in the discipline increased and SPSSI’s
membership changed. During the 1980s and 1990s, women
assumed leadership roles in SPSSI. The Journal of Social
Issues,as well as SPSSI’s workshops, conferences, and meet-
ing programs, have addressed issues of women and gender
(Katz, 1991). Moreover, many other topics that SPSSI has
addressed, such as poverty, homelessness, pornography, and
immigration, are directly relevant to women’s lives.The Association for Women in PsychologyIn March 1969, a group of women in the Psychologists for
Social Action formed a Women’s Consortium. They orga-
nized a symposium for the 1969 APA convention called
“Woman as Subject,” as opposed to “woman as sex object.”
Although the symposium was not sponsored by any division
and was publicized only via flyers posted in the public areas
of the hotel, 400 people, mostly women, attended (Berman,
1995). Two other groups of women independently organized
paper sessions and workshops, also unofficially. During these
sessions, a petition was circulated demanding that the APA
examine and rectify sexist discrimination in the organization
and in psychology departments. Another petition called for
the APA to pass a resolution stating that abortion (then illegal
in most states) was a civil right of pregnant women. A core
group of about 35 psychologists (women and men) continued
to meet in the months following the convention, and they laid
the groundwork for a new organization, the Association for
Women in Psychology (AWP). AWP’s purpose was defined in
an initial statement: “AWP is dedicated to maximizing the
effectiveness of, and the professional opportunities for,
women psychologists, and to exploring the contributions
which psychology can, does, and should make to the defini-
tion, investigation, and modification of current sex role stereo-
types” (Association for Women in Psychology, 1970, p. 1).
In 1970, the AWP presented 32 resolutions and 18 motions
to the APA at the annual APA convention. These were designed
to overhaul the way the APA and university departments of
psychology operated (Tiefer, 1991). In response, the APA ap-
pointed a Task Force on the Status of Women, chaired by
Helen S. Astin. The Task Force Report documented inequities
within the field. Among other recommendations, it recom-
mended that a division be created to address deficiencies in