The Committee on Women in Psychology

The Committee on Women in Psychology (CWP) was established in 1973 as a council of the American Psychological Association (APA). The Committee aims to advance psychology as a science and "ensure that women in all their diversity achieve equality within the psychological community and in the larger society." [1] It functions as a means to make recommendations to the APA and APA members. The Committee also interacts with other psychological groups such as the Society for Psychology of Women and the Association for Women in Psychology. There are six members elected every three years and report to the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest. The Committee's current chair is Dr. Lisa Flores; the current vice-chair is Dr. Josephine Serrata.[2]

**Overall strategic goals for the Committee include:**

Goal I: Promoting the health and well-being of all women, nationally and internationally.

Goal II: Identifying and eliminating discriminatory and exploitive practices against all women, nationally and internationally.

Goal III: Promoting the unique contributions of women to psychology.

Goal IV: Enhancing women's leadership within and outside of APA.

Goal V: Monitoring activities of groups within the APA to assess the impact on women.

Goal VI: Collaborating with others as needed to achieve the empowerment of underrepresented groups.

Goal VII: Promoting advocacy on public policy relevant to women, nationally and internationally. [3]

**Priority tasks for the Committee include:**

1. Collecting information about the status of women

2. Developing recommendations which would be helpful for women

3. Monitoring the implementation of recommendations for the APA which apply to women

4. Work on mechanisms that would increase participation for women in the profession

5. Communicate with other groups and entities about the advancement of women

6. Monitor current events which affect women through policy [4]

### History

The Committee was established in August of 1973 by the APA Council of Representatives in response to a report by the Task Force on the Status of Women in Psychology and has since been the leader in promoting issues affecting women in psychology. The first chair of the Committee, Dr. Martha Mednick, reported the APA was previously "slow and measured" regarding advancing policies for women. Mednick (as reported in Bergmann, 1998) further reported that the "aggressive, unpleasant, yes strident, demands by young, strong, very dissatisfied women" led to the Committee's establishment

### Accomplishments

The CWP has accomplished various policy advancements such as: identifying and eradicating sexist language in APA publications; identifying reproductive rights as being a key mental health issue for women and providing education around the topic; actively seeking Black and LGBTIA clinicians to join the CWP to insure representation; spread awareness about domestic violence as a public health issue [5][6]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://www.apa.org/pi/women/committee
2. ↑ https://www.proquest.com/docview/212069801/fulltextPDF/7BD82C0DBBD4DDAPQ/2?accountid=34563
3. ↑ https://www.apa.org/pi/women/committee/decades-of-change.pdf