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.
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.