Other

1848

The historic Seneca Falls Convention on Women's Rights in New York State marks the beginning of the women's suffrage movement and first-wave feminism in the United States. The Declaration of Sentiments is signed by 68 women and 32 men; the principal author was Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

1851

Sojourner Truth delivers her famous "Ain't I a Woman" speech at the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio

1882

Christine Ladd Franklin: First woman to complete all the requirements for a PhD at Johns Hopkins University, a degree she was not granted until 1926

1891

Mary Whiton Calkins establishes a psychology laboratory at Wellesley College

Calkins and Ladd Franklin: First female members of the American Psychological Association

1894

Margaret Floy Washburn becomes the first woman to be officially awarded the PhD degree in psychology, at Cornell University under E.B. Titchener

1895

Calkins and Cordelia Nevers begin their debate with Jospeh Jastrow about the Community of Ideas of Men and Women

Milicent Shinn publishes an article in Century Magazine in which she explores the reasons for the lower rates of marriage among college-educated women, concluding that educated women have more freedom in their choice of mates and more economic independence

1903

Helen Thompson (Woolley) completes the first dissertation on sex differences, entitled The Mental Traits of Sex

Ladd Franklin, Calkins and Washburn named to American Men of Science; Emma Sophia Baker becomes the first woman in Canada to earn a PhD on a psychological topic

1905

Mary Whiton Calkins: First woman to be elected president of the APA

1910

Helen Woolley publishes A Review of the Recent Literature on the Psychology of Sex in the Psychological Bulletin

1914

Anna Berliner becomes the only woman to complete a PhD under Wilhelm Wundt

Leta Stetter Hollingworth publishes Variability as Related to Sex Differences in Achievement: A Critique in the American Journal of Sociology

Hollingworth publishes her doctoral dissertation entitled Functional Periodicity: An Experimental Study of the Motor and Mental Abilities of Women During Menstruation

1916

Hollingworth publishes Social Devices for Impelling Women to Bear and Rear Children in the American Journal of Sociology

Anthropologist Robert Lowie and Hollingworth publish Science and Feminism in Scientific Monthly

1920

Constitutional amendment gives women the right to vote in the United States

1921

Margaret Floy Washburn is the second woman to be elected president of the APA

Leta Stetter Hollingworth is cited in American Men of Science for her research on the psychology of women

1929

The Famous Five succeed in having the Supreme Court of Canada declare women as persons in the eyes of the law in the famous Persons Case

1931

Margaret Floy Washburn: First woman psychologist elected to the National Academy of Science

1933

Inez Beverly Prosser: First African American woman to receive a doctoral degree in psychology at the University of Cincinnati, in educational psychology

1934

Ruth Howard (Beckham): Second African American woman to receive a doctoral degree in psychology, first within a department of psychology, at the University of Minnesota

1935

Helen Flanders Dunbar founds the American Society for Research in Psychosomatic Problems and is the first editor of the society's journal, Psychosomatic Medicine: Experimental and Clinical Studies

Alberta Banner Turner earns her PhD from Ohio State University

1936

The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) is founded. Although none of its founding members are women, women soon make up one-third of the society's membership

1939

Rose Butler Browne becomes the first African American woman to earn a PhD in Education at Harvard University

1941

Karen Horney founds the American Institute for Psychoanalysis

National Council of Women Psychologists (NCWP) is formed to mobilize women psychologists in the war effort

1942

Florence L. Goodenough: First president of the newly created National Council of Women Psychologists, which became the International Council of Women Psychologists in 1946 and then the International Council of Psychologists in 1959

1943

Mamie Phipps Clark is the first African American woman (and second African American) to receive a PhD from Columbia University

1944

Ruth Tolman serves as SPSSI's first female council representative

SPSSI Committee on Roles of Men and Women in Postwar Society chaired by Georgene Seward issues a report concluding that sex differences are based largely on differential training and social myth

1946

Georgene Seward's Sex and the Social Order is published

Mamie Phipps Clark establishes the Northside Center for Child Development in New York City

1952

Keturah Whitehurst earns her PhD from Harvard's Radcliffe College and goes on to become the first African-American psychologist licensed in Virginia

1953

The Second Sex by feminist writer Simone De Beauvoir is published in the United States, using the term "women's liberation"

1954

U.S. Supreme Court cites graduate work of Mamie Phipps Clark in the Brown v. Board of Education decision making racial segregation of the public schools illegal

1962

Martha Bernal: First Latina to earn a PhD in psychology, in clinical psychology from Indiana University Bloomington

Naomi Weisstein stages her first women's liberation demonstration in front of Harvard's Lamont Library, which was still males-only

1963

Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique is published and becomes a best-seller

1966

National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded

Nancy Bayley: First woman to receive the APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award for her contribution in developmental psychology

1967

Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson institutes the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada in response to pressure by the women's movement

Karen Horney's Feminine Psychology appears

1968

Mary Jean Wright becomes first woman president of the Canadian Psychological Association

Association of Black Psychologists is founded, although its membership is mostly male

Naomi Weisstein presents her landmark paper, "Psychology Constructs the Female" an attack on sexism and methodology in psychology

1969

Kate Millett's Sexual Politics, A Surprising Examination of Society's Most Arbitrary Folly becomes a widely-debated best seller

At the annual APA convention, three symposia on the topic of "Women as Scientists and Subjects" bring together women representing

Psychologists for Social Action, the New University Conference, NOW, and various other liberation groups, to focus on job discrimination and sexist practices at the APA Convention and in academia and the professions

Formation of the Association for Women in Psychology (AWP)

Founding of the Chicago Women's Liberation Union

Joann Evansgardner is the first (temporary) president of the AWP

1970

At an APA Town Hall Meeting, with the support of AWP, Phyllis Chesler and Nancy Henley, prepared a statement on APA's obligations to women and demanded one million dollars in reparation for the damage psychology had perpetrated against women's minds and bodies

Virginia Douglas becomes the second woman president of the Canadian Psychological Association

Helen Astin: First chair of the newly founded Task Force on the Status of Women in Psychology

Association Por La Raza (APLR) is formed

The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer is published

Boston Women's Health Book Collective publishes the first edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves which helps create a women's health movement

Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and Bella Abzug lead the Women's Strike for Equality March up Fifth Avenue in NYC

Inge Broverman and colleagues publish their study showing that descriptions of a mentally healthy adult are closer to the descriptions of a healthy adult male than a healthy adult female

1971

Carolyn Attneave: Forms The Network of Indian Psychologists

Creation of the Board for Social and Ethical Responsibility in Psychology (BSERP) in the APA

1972

The Underground Symposium is held at the Canadian Psychological Association Convention. After having their individual papers and then a symposium rejected by the Program Committee, a group of six graduate students and untenured faculty, including Sandra Pyke and Esther Greenglass hold an independent research symposium which showcased work being done in the field of the psychology of women

Anne Anastasi: Third woman to be elected president of the APA

The Asian American Psychological Association is founded

Ms. Magazine makes its debut in a preview issue with Gloria Steinem as editor

Phyllis Chesler's Women and Madness is published

Matina Horner publishes her work on fear of success in women

1973

The first commercial edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves by the Boston Women's Health Book Collective is published

Division 35, later the Society for the Psychology of Women, of the APA is formed

Elizabeth Douvan: First president of Division 35

Leona E. Tyler: Fourth woman to be elected president of the APA

The Committee on Women in Psychology, of the APA, is formed

Martha Mednick: First chair of the newly created APA Committee on Women in Psychology

Landmark legal decision in Roe v. Wade makes abortion legal in the United States

1974

APA Task Force on Sex Bias and Sex-Role Stereotyping in Psychotherapeutic Practice is appointed

Sandra Bem publishes an article on the measurement of psychological androgyny, the Bem Sex Role Inventory

Eleanor Maccoby and Carol Jacklin publish the highly influential The Psychology of Sex Differences

1975

Mary Wright: First chair of the newly founded Task Force on the Status of Women in Canadian Psychology

Georgia Babladelis: First editor of the Psychology of Women Quarterly

Denyse Barbet: First AWP representative to the United Nations

First APA sponsored Psychology of Women Conference

First issue of the journal Sex Roles published

First review article on psychology of women appears in the women's studies journal Signs, by Mary Parlee

The first time an article on the sub-field Psychology of Women is published in the prestigious Annual Review of Psychology

The first conference on Men and Masculinity is convened in Knoxville, Tennessee

1976

Interest Group on Women and Psychology (IGWAP) is formed in the CPA

CPA Status of Women Committee is formed

Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women founded

Division 35 Task Force on Black Women's Concerns appointed; Saundra Rice Murray, Gwendolyn Puryear, Winnie Emoungo, and Carolyn Payton are founding members

APA Task Force on Non-Sexist Language is appointed

First issue of Psychology of Women Quarterly published

Psychiatrist Jean Baker Miller publishes Toward a New Psychology of Women proposing a relational model of women's development that informs a relational-cultural model of therapy

African-American psychologist Robert Val Guthrie publishes the first edition of Even the Rat Was White, the first African-American history of psychology; he profiles the lives and careers of several African American women psychologists

Ruth King: First woman president of the Association of Black Psychologists

1977

Ethics Code of the American Psychological Association changed to prohibit sexual contact between therapist and client

Division 35 Task Force on the Concerns of Hispanic Women appointed

Genes and Gender Collective, headed by Ethel Tobach and biologist Betty Rosoff, is formed to challenge the use of genetic determinism to promote sexism and racism

Martha Bernal: First Chair of Division 35 Task Force on the Concern of Hispanic Women

Arnold Kahn: First male secretary-treasurer of Division 35

Women's Program Office in APA Headquarters founded

Nancy Felipe Russo: First officer of the newly established Women's Program Office in APA headquarters

Nancy Henley publishes Body Politics: Power, Sex, and Nonverbal Communication, an important feminist analysis of gender, power, and communication

The Combahee River Collective releases “The Combahee River Collective Statement”

1978

Task Force on Black Women's Concerns becomes the Committee of Black Women's Concerns of Division 35

Pamela Trotman Reid: First president of the Committee of Black Women's Concerns

First Canadian Institute on Women and Psychology pre-convention conference hosted at CPA by IGWAP

Formation of the National Coalition of Psychologists for the Equal Rights Amendment. The mission of the Coalition was to articulate the positive benefits of equality for both sexes as well as the integrity of the family. Dr. Nancy Felipe Russo served as National Coordinator for the Coalition

Gloria Steinem presents an invited address to the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Toronto

1979

Rhoda Unger publishes Toward a Redefinition of Sex and Gender American Psychologist, highlighting the difference between the two terms for psychologists

1980

Florence L. Denmark: Fifth woman to be elected president of the APA

IGWAP becomes the Section on Women and Psychology in the CPA

Guidelines for Therapy and Counselling with Women is adopted by the CPA

1981

Ellen Langer is the first woman to be granted tenure in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University

Vaira Vikis-Freiberg becomes the third woman president of the CPA

Bell Hooks publishes Ain't I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism

Stone Center (now the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute) established

1982

First meeting of the Feminist Therapy Institute

The feminist journal Women & Therapy is launched

Carol Gilligan's In a Different Voice, Psychological Theory and Women's Development is published

Sandra Pyke becomes the fourth women president of the CPA

Stephanie Shields publishes The Variability Hypothesis: The History of a Biological Model of Sex Differences in Intelligence in Signs

1984

Florence Denmark, Carolyn Payton, and Laurie Eyde receive the first American Psychological Association Committee on Women in Psychology Leadership Awards

Janet Spence: Sixth woman to be elected president of the APA

1985

Division 44, Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual issues is formed

Section 1 of Division 35, the Section on the Psychology of Black Women is formed

AWP presents "An International Feminist Mental Health Agenda for the Year 2000" at the final event of the U. N. Decade for Women conference in Nairobi, Kenya

Evelyn Fox Keller publishes Reflections on Gender and Science

Donna Haraway publishes A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century

1986

AWP members picket the annual APA convention in protest of several new diagnostic categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Angela Ginorio: First chair of the newly founded Committee of the Concerns of Hispanic Women - the Committee replaced the previous Task Force founded in 1977

1987

Bonnie Strickland: Seventh woman to be elected president of the APA

Elizabeth Scarborough and Laurel Furumoto publish Untold Lives: The First Generation of American Women Psychologists

Janet Stoppard leads the Women and Mental Health Committee of the Canadian Mental Health Association

1988

Janet Spence: First president of the Association for Psychological Science

Mary Crawford chairs the newly founded Task Force on Feminist Research and Epistemology

Section 4 of Division 35, the Section for Lesbian and Bisexual Women's issues formed

Psychology of Women Section of the British Psychological Society is established

Rachel Hare-Mustin and Jeanne Marecek publish The Meaning of Difference: Gender Theory, Postmodernism, and Psychology in American Psychologist

1989

Historian Londa Schiebinger publishes The Mind Has No Sex? Women in the Origins of Modern Science

Black feminist legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw coins the term Intersectionality in one of her classic papers: Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics

1990

First issue of the Journal of Men's Studies published

1991

First issue of Feminism & Psychology published

Susan Faludi's Backlash, The Undeclared War on American Women is published, documenting the backlash against the feminist movement

Feminist philosopher Sandra Harding publishes Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking From Women's Lives

1992

Report of the APA Task Force on Violence against Women

Carol Tavris publishes The Mismeasure of Women: Why Women are Not the Better Sex, the Inferior Sex, or the Opposite Sex

Stephanie Riger publishes "Epistemological Debates, Feminist Voices: Science, Social Values, and the Study of Women" in American Psychologist

1993

Sandra Bem publishes The Lenses of Gender, Transforming the Debate on Sexual Inequality

1995

Christine Iijima Hall: First woman president of the Asian American Psychological Association

Report of the APA Task Force on the Changing Composition of Psychology

Division 35 becomes the 4th largest division of the APA

1996

The Status of Women Committee of the CPA is dissolved

Dorothy Cantor: Eighth woman elected president of APA

1997

Oliva Espin publishes Latina realities: Essays on healing, migration, and sexuality

The Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity is established (Division 51 of the APA)

Pro-Choice Forum is established and sponsored by Division 35

The Women's Ways of Knowing Project which analyzed and coded 135 in-depth interviews asking women about their gender, relationships, ways of knowing, and moral dilemmas culminates in the book, Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind

1999

The first National Multicultural Conference and Summit is held in California. It is sponsored by the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, the Society for the Psychology of Women, the Society of Counseling Psychology, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues

2000

Report of the APA Task Force on Women in Academe

Inaugural issue of the APA journal Psychology of Men and Masculinity

Chela Sandoval publishes Methodology of the Oppressed

2001

Norine G. Johnson: Ninth woman to be elected president of the APA

2004

Diane F. Halpern: Tenth woman to be elected president of the APA

March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC; an estimated one million people march to support women's reproductive rights

Paula Caplan and Lisa Cosgrove publish Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis, sponsored by the Association for Women in Psychology, part of a sustained, ongoing struggle against diagnostic labels that pathologize and harm women

2005

Janet Shibley Hyde publishes the Gender Similarities Hypothesis in American Psychologist

2007

Sharon Stephens Brehm: Eleventh woman to be elected president of the APA

Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls

2010

Carol Goodheart: Twelfth woman to be elected president of the APA

2011

Melba Vasquez: Thirteenth woman, and first woman of color, to be elected president of APA

The Society for the Psychology of Women Special Committee on Violence Against Women publishes a report on the trafficking of women and girls.

If you know of an important historical event that should be listed here, email the date and a few lines about the event to alexr [@] yorku.ca. Links to further information and photos with proper permissions are also appreciated.