2003 Annual Reports for Boards and Committees

Committee on Women in Psychology

1973-2003: 30 Years of Passion and Progress

2003 marks the 30 th anniversary of the founding of the Committee on Women in Psychology (CWP). In addition to commemorating this milestone, CWP wishes to acknowledge and thank the many feminist psychologists who have gone before, some who worked for the founding of CWP and others who have worked and struggled through the years to gain and maintain equity for women and women’s concerns in the field of psychology. These contributions came, on some occasions, at great personal and professional cost. CWP expresses its gratitude to those whose sacrifices paved the way for the women psychologists of today.

CWP was established by APA’s Council of Representatives in 1973. Its mission is to advance psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting health and human welfare by ensuring that women achieve equality as members of the psychological community in order that all human resources be fully actualized. CWP functions as a catalyst, interacting with and making recommendations to groups within APA’s governing structure, to the APA membership, and to other groups working to advance women and women’s issues within psychology. The committee has been specifically directed to a) collect information and documentation concerning the status of women; b) continue development of recommendations and implementation of guidelines; c) develop mechanisms to increase the participation of women in roles and functions of the profession; and d) facilitate ongoing communications with other agencies and institutions regarding the status of women.

Following is the report of the activities and accomplishments for the Committee on Women in Psychology in 2003. Reports from CWP Network representatives on their 2003 activities are included in an appendix at the end.

Membership/Meetings:

CWP’s 2003 members were Ellen Cole, PhD (Chair); Carla K. Bradshaw, PhD; Robin A. Buhrke, PhD (Chair-elect); Lillian Comas-Diaz, PhD (Vice-Chair); Janet Shibley Hyde, PhD; and Jacquelyn W. White, PhD. Dr. Cole and Dr. Comas-Diaz completed their terms of service on CWP on December 31, 2003. On January 1, 2004, Louise B. Silverstein, PhD, and Veronica G. Thomas, PhD will join CWP, appointed for 3-year terms by CWP’s parent board, the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI), and the Board of Directors.

During 2003, committees did not meet in consolidated format, as a result of continuing budget limitations. Instead, CWP had a face to face meeting February 21-23, conducted its Fall meeting via two conference calls (September 16 and October 14), and completed other committee business via email and fax between meetings.

The committee wishes to thank Katherine C. Nordal, PhD, Board of Directors Liaison; and Ruperto M. Perez, PhD, BAPPI Liaison, for their support during the year.

Strategic Goals: Development and Revision

CWP’s strategic goals are the frame through which the committee organizes and evaluates its work. These goals assist the committee in developing its projects and activities. They are also of value as the committee fulfills its important role of monitoring the work of other bodies within APA governance and providing input and advice concerning the needs of women. At each meeting, committee members review the strategic goals, as well as ongoing priorities, and revise as needed.

2003 accomplishments are reported within the framework of CWP’s strategic goals. Given budget cuts and less face to face meeting time, CWP determined to focus more of their more limited resources on building women’s leadership in psychology (Goal IV). A number of activities fall within this category.

During 2003, CWP added a goal dealing with monitoring activities across APA and assessing their implications for women. CWP felt that an explicit goal addressing this routine function of the committee was needed.

2003 Accomplishments

Goal I: Promoting the health and well-being of all women

Legislative Advocacy:CWP worked with APA Public Policy Office (PPO) staff, tracking federal legislative issues of concern to women, including reproductive health, reducing poverty, and supporting lesbian and gay rights. CWP continues to encourage CWP Network members to respond immediately to Action Alerts issued by PPO, and continues to track and monitor legislation addressing these concerns.

Leadership in Women’s Health Research: This initiative is on hold until theWomen’s Programs Office (WPO) staff completes several other projects that are in process.

Goal II: Identifying and eliminating discriminatory practices against all women

Accreditation: CWP has been interested in gender issues in the context of accreditation almost since the committee's creation 30 years ago, and has worked with Committee on Accreditation (CoA) members and Office of Accreditation staff on these issues. In 2003, CWP had an opportunity to review the charge for Advisory Council on Accreditation, and submitted comments to the Board of Educational Affairs. CWP has had a number of fruitful discussions with CoA. However, CWP also relayed a concern about perceptions on the part of some that it is difficult to provide input to the CoA as a whole and that feedback may not always be welcome. Whether this is an issue of perception or reality, CWP recommended that the Advisory Council explore mechanisms to address the problem. On the more specific question of improving the functioning of psychology’s accrediting body, CWP recommended that summary data and analyses on evaluations of programs be made available to the degree possible. CWP also suggested that training for site visitors could include detailed information on what to look for within programs, and CWP recommended that the evaluation of Domain D be strengthened and that a minimum level of evidence of commitment to diversity be established that must be met by programs in psychology. Other information and data CWP felt would be helpful included (a) outcomes/graduation rates for individual students, disaggregated by sex and other demographic characteristics; (b) the fidelity of the actual course content taught to the syllabus; (c) whether most of the diversity is among part-time and adjunct rather than tenure track faculty ; and (d) the distribution of financial aid allocations among students.

The annual CWP Network meeting included discussion of the practice at some institutions of forcing a choice between addressing gender and addressing ethnicity – under the general umbrella of diversity. Recognizing the complexity of this issue, CWP determined to explore this further over the course of 2004.

Gender Identity Task Force: CWP is working with the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns, as well as Division 44, on the possibility of developing a gender identity task force. At this early stage, the sense of the group is that gender identity needed to be routinely included in standard nondiscrimination language. CWP will continue to work on this initiative.

Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Concerns: At the request of the Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest (BAPPI), CWP provided feedback on two Council of Representatives New Business Items: Items 28 (APA Ban on Department of Defense (DoD) Advertising in APA Publications) and 32C (Discrimination Against Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Military Personnel). CWP supported reviewing the ad ban, as raised in Item 28, to determine if it is still an effective tool in fighting discrimination against lesbian, gay, and bisexual service members, but only within the context of fully reviewing the entire issue of lesbian, gay, and bisexual service members and the constraints placed on psychologists in the military treating them. Therefore CWP recommended rejection of the main motion in Item 28 (which directed that Council rescind the ban on DoD advertising in APA publications), and CWP recommended approval of the main motion in Item 32C (which directs Council to create a Division 19/Division 44 Joint Task Force on the Status of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Military Personnel).

CEMRRAT2 Task Force Textbook Initiative Work Group Booklet:

"Toward an Inclusive Psychology: Infusing the Introductory Psychology Textbook with Diversity Content": CWP expressed strong support for this important initiative, and recommended that production and dissemination of the booklet move

forward, so that we can move toward the goal of encouraging textbook authors and publishers to more effectively incorporate and infuse diversity throughout introductory psychology texts. CWP also applauded CEMRRAT’S continuing attention to gender as an integral variable in diversity.

Goal III: Promoting the unique contributions of women to psychology

CWP 30 th Anniversary: CWP sponsored a symposium at the 2003 APA convention, "Thirty Years of Passion and Progress: APA Committee on Women in Psychology," which examined the issues outlined in the original historic 52 resolutions presented by the Association for Women in Psychology (AWP) during the 1969 APA convention in Miami (which ultimately led to the founding of CWP) and related them to some of the key and critical issues women in psychology are facing today. Dr. Ellen Cole and Dr. Lillian Comas-Diaz co-chaired the session; presenters included Dr. Laura Brown, Dr. Lorraine Eyde, Dr. Martha Mednick, and Dr. Nancy Felipe Russo. CWP and WPO staff are working both on activities commemorating the founding of CWP (e.g., an anniversary dinner postponed from 2003, which will be held at the 2004 APA convention) and a publication that would celebrate the history of CWP and the milestones and advances of women in psychology.

Gender References for "Psychology Makes a Significant Difference" Compendium: CWP felt that the “gender” section at the “Psychology Makes a Significant Difference” page at APA’s web site needs to be expanded. CWP identified a number of key articles on gender that they will submit for consideration.

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

CWP Leadership Awards: At the Division 35/AWP Social Hour during APA’s convention in Toronto, CWP presented the CWP Distinguished Leadership Awards to Beverly Greene, PhD, ABPP; Mary L. P. Koss, PhD; and Vickie M. Mays, PhD, MSPH. 2003 is the 18 th year that CWP has presented these awards, which reflect CWP’s commitment to ensure that women receive equity both within psychology and as consumers of psychological services, and that issues pertaining to women are kept at the forefront of psychological research, education, training, and practice.

Women as Journal Editors: CWP continues to see increasing the numbers and proportion of women who serve as journal editors as a critical goal in developing leadership of women in psychology. In discussions this past year, CWP reviewed results of a survey of APA journal editors, conducted several years ago. Because the survey included a low number of women, CWP noted that results needed to be interpreted with care, and the number of analyses that could be done was limited. Overall, however, the survey indicated that there were more similarities than differences between the men and women in the survey. The survey also indicated that more men were in departments of psychology, whereas women’s affiliations were more likely to be something else. CWP agreed that it was critical to pursue increasing the number of women who are nominated. CWP will convene at the 2004 APA convention a working meeting of APA groups and journals editors to examine this problem, a session that was postponed from 2003.

2004 Graduate Faculty Survey: CWP is working with WPO staff to revamp and update theSurvey of Graduate Faculty Interested in the Psychology of Women (last conducted in 1998). The 2004 Survey will be available to those seeking graduate study via a searchable database on the WPO web site.

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

A core function of CWP is to monitor activities across APA, to assess their impact on women, and to provide feedback as needed and appropriate. CWP accomplishes this in a number of ways, including maintaining the CWP Network (both an active listserve and an annual meeting each year at the APA convention), which is composed primarily of representatives of women’s committees from divisions and state associations and former members; assigning CWP members as monitors to other groups, to review agenda books and minutes of those groups for items relevant to women; and reviewing and discussing in detail cross-cutting items making their way through APA’s policy approval process (via the cross-cutting agenda book and also upon the request of its governing board, BAPPI). The following are sample items and issues for which CWP felt there were implications for women, and for which CWP provided feedback.

Findings and Conclusions and the Recommendations Developed by the Task Force on Advertising and Children: CWP reviewed the Findings and Conclusions and the Recommendations developed by the Task Force on Advertising and Children. Committee members noted that the charge to the Task Force included to "examine the impact of advertising on the social and cognitive development of children, with sensitivity to issues of gender, culture, and ethnicity." However, CWP commented, neither the Findings and Conclusions nor the Recommendations addressed gender, culture, or ethnicity, and CWP recommended that, as was appropriate within the narrow scope of the report, more attention be devoted to gender, culture, or ethnicity in relation to children and advertising.

Resolution on Families of Incarcerated Offenders (CR New Business Item 32D): CWP reviewed the proposed Resolution on Families of Incarcerated Offenders (CR New Business Item 32D), recommending that research efforts and programs and services should take into account a more complete understanding of women’s decision-making in intimate relationships, including decisions about drug use. This will likely reduce the incarceration rate of women and help devise more effective programs and services. CWP also suggested that the resolution note that the families left behind are composed mostly of women, who consequently are often left to raise children on their own. CWP commented that programs and services should work to mobilize resilience and protective factors of families of incarcerated offenders. And finally, CWP noted that reducing the number of individuals incarcerated should remain a fundamental goal.

CWP Network: CWP maintains an active listserve of Network representatives and convenes the annual meeting of the CWP Network during each APA convention (see item below on the CWP Network).

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

CWP Network: Suggestions raised at the 2003 CWP Network meeting in Toronto included how to consistently incorporate content dealing with gender into psychology curricula and how to provide greater support to women in male-dominated areas. CWP appreciates this feedback from the Network and will include these items on the committee’s March 2004 agenda. CWP will also poll the entire Network for input on the issues women psychologists see as most critical at this time. This feedback will be part of the discussion during the March meeting. (See also Network representatives' reports in the appendix following.)

Proposed Resolution on Gender and Culture Awareness in International Psychology : CWP reviewed the proposed Resolution on Gender and Culture Awareness in International Psychology, commending the Committee on International Relations in Psychology (CIRP) and Division 52 for their work in developing this important document. CWP suggested that a “whereas” statement be added concerning gender discrimination and resulting violations of their body integrity, interpersonal violence and physical abuse; CWP also suggested including “indigenous psychologies” with national and cultural psychologies. The resolution calls for CWP to work with CIRP on further exploring international issues of gender, which CWP fully supports and looks forward to implementing.

Submitted by Ellen Cole, PhD, Chair, Committee on Women in Psychology

Appendix follows:

APPENDIX:

2003 REPORTS OF COMMITTEE ON WOMEN IN PSYCHOLOGY NETWORK REPRESENTATIVES

Maine Psychological Association (MePA) Women in Psychology
Submitted by Diana L. Prescott, PhD ( dlprescott@emh.org)

The MePA Women in Psychology actually is comprised of three groups, one in southern Maine (Portland area), one in mid-Maine (Waterville/Augusta area), and one in the Bangor area. The mid-Maine and Bangor groups have actively met on a monthly basis for lunch/dinner over the past year. This represents a huge change for MePA, which historically has had no active women in psychology group. The main concern of psychologists in these groups has been isolation. Sharing meals has served as a forum to discuss issues of isolation, personal practice, and political concerns. At the fall Conference in Portland, there was discussion of a revival of the Southern Maine/Portland group. Interestingly, this is the group which has had the most difficulty forming. It may be that these meetings are less important in southern Maine, due to greater population density and decreased isolation in this part of Maine.

Texas Psychological Association Women’s Issues Special Interest Group
Submitted by Melba J.T. Vasquez, PhD ( MelVasquez@aol.com )

This Special Interest Group was organized three years ago by Melba J.T. Vasquez, PhD who served as the Chair for the first year and as co-chair with Robbie N. Sharp, PhD the next two years. Dr. Sharp and a new co-chair, Selia Servin-López, PsyD will lead the group in 2004 as it seeks to become a Division of the TPA. The mission has been set: To promote and apply knowledge of psychology for the welfare and benefit of women. In particular, an objective is to promote knowledge of the psychological, social, political, and economic problems of women to the public and the profession. Other objectives include: to encourage research on the psychology of women; to promote knowledge of women's psychological development and its application to provision of services; to challenge unfounded assumptions and stereotypes about the women and men; to combat the oppression of women; to promote unity among women of all races, ethnicity, ages, social classes, sexual orientations, physical abilities, and religions; to promote legislative initiatives which benefit women; to promote representation of women within TPA and other related organizations; to achieve equality for women within the profession of psychology. Accomplishments for the 2003 year include: (1) Publication of "Challenging Issues for Women at Midlife" in the Winter 2003 Texas Psychologist; (2)

Symposium at 2003 TPA convention, "Challenges for Women From Diverse Backgrounds." New projects include promoting the establishment of an award, within the Texas Psychological Foundation, to acknowledge contributions to women’s issues, developing the "Challenges" presentation for submission to the APA Convention Program, and increasing the visibility of members’ projects and work through the listserve.

Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12) Section IV
Submitted by Gloria B. Gottsegen, PhD ( GGottsegen@aol.com )

The section has 106 members, 26 affiliates, and 14 students. The 2004 section officers are as follows: President: Dr. Sharon Rae Jenkins; Past President: Dr. Linda Knauss; President-elect: Dr. Mae Lee Billet Ziskin; Secretary: Dr. Deborah King; Treasurer and Newsletter Editor: Dr. Laura Toomey; Members-at-large: Dr. Janet Sonne, Dr. Toy Caldwell-Colbert; Section Representative: Dr. Gloria Gottsegen; Mentoring Award Chair: Dr. Faith Anne Dohm; Student Awards Chair: Dr. Faith Anne Dohm. The section presented two programs at the Toronto annual meeting: Symposium on Feminist Ethics - Practice and Perspective (Dr. Linda Knauss, Chair; Dr. Melba Vasquez, Dr. Cynthia Strum, Dr. Patricia Bricklin, and Dr. Laura Brown); Presidential Address - Role of Emotions and Values in Ethical Decision Making (Dr. Linda Knauss). Two issues of the newsletter, The Clinical Psychology of Women, were published and distributed. A  Manual was prepared and distributed by Dr. Laura Toomey, which includes Section 4 Membership and Bylaws, and Society Leadership and Bylaws. President-elect Jenkins's presidential initiative will be "Gender, Culture and Clinical Assessment." The following 2003 awards were given: Mentoring Award – Annette Brodsky, PhD; Directors Award – Asuncion Miteria Austria, PhD; Student Research Awards: First Place - Margaret Bell, Second Place – Cindy Veldhuis, Third Place – Marci Loiselle.

Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Division 14)
Submitted by Mary L. Tenopyr, PhD (m.tenopyr@att.net)

During 2003, the Society established an ad hoc committee to encourage research on lesbian, gay, and bisexual, and transgender issues in the workplace and to deal with membership issues of these groups within the society. The committee will present a symposium on research findings and needs at the annual society meeting in Chicago in April 2004. This will be followed by a reception. We have given Diane F. Halpern, PhD (President, APA) a number of suggestions for programming at the 2004 APA Convention. Among these were work-family issues in changing cultures, wage gap, and sex-segregation of job categories. We also suggested speakers for topics such as violence in the home and workplace. We have also begun work on the development of the Institute for the Teaching of I/O Psychology. The purpose of this institute is to assist in communicating and developing relationships with faculties of institutions that serve largely ethnic minority populations. The ultimate goal is to increase the representation of ethnic minorities in the field of I/O psychology. The first workshop was conducted in November 2003 with participants from Dillard University, Xavier University, and Southern University of New Orleans. In particular, we wish to increase the participation of ethnic minority females in the field. We expect to continue to expand our efforts in the area of promoting diversity.

Rehabilitation Psychology (Division 22)
Submitted by Martha E. Banks, PhD ( banks@abackans.com )

The division on Rehabilitation Psychology has made a commitment to increase diversity in the division and its leadership. The Diversity Committee is increasing its outreach and is developing a "feeder system" or network for building minority leaders. Starting in 2003, two gender-specific slates were developed for Member-At-Large in order to ensure that women are involved in the Executive Committee.

Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27), Women's Committee
Submitted by Christina Ayala-Alcantar, PhD (christina.ayala-alcantar@csun.edu)

Dr. Christina Ayala-Alcantar is Chair; Dr. Mary Ellen Dello Stritto is Incoming Chair; Dr. Bianca Guzmán, is Outgoing Chair. The SCRA Committee on Women has been active in two primary areas. First, we have begun to document the experiences of women in the field of community psychology. As a first step, it was decided to create a roundtable presentation to begin highlighting the women in our field. Nominations were solicited for “trailblazing” women through the SCRA-W listserv (i.e., the listserv for Division 27 - Women’s Committee). A total of 54 women were nominated. Based on the information received from the nominees it was decided to create a multi-media presentation that consisted of a video, PowerPoint presentation, poster presentation, and portfolios highlighting the nominees and women involved in SCRA. The chairs of community psychology programs also identified future female “trailblazers” among their graduate students. Christina Ayala-Alcantar and Bianca Guzman presented this information during the summer at the 2003 9 th Biennial Conference of the Society for Community Research and Action in New Mexico. Since Biennial, a trailblazer of the week is posted to the SCRA-W listserv. In addition, these 54 women will be highlighted in an article that will be included in a special history issue of the Journal of Community Psychology. The other area we have focused our attention on is our listserv, SCRA –W. Subscribers to the listserv participated in a membership drive during the summer of 2003, and we increased our subscriber list by 30%. Three primary strategies were used to increase our numbers: (1) subscribers recruited friends, colleagues and students to join, (2) an invitation to join SCRA-W was posted by the chair to all the listservs in SCRA, and (3) the chair sent personalized e-mails to female community psychologists who were not listed as subscribers. (If you are interested in joining our listserv, please send an e-mail to listserv@lists.apa.org and within the text type SUBSCRIBE SCRA-W your first name and your last name. For example, SUBSCRIBE SCRA-W Christina Ayala-Alcantar. No comment in the subject box.) We have also reinstated our question of the week to stimulate discussion on the listserv. Topics have included cultural norms, racial ethnic/separatism, white privilege, silencing, balancing motherhood and career/graduate school, networking, and political activism. We hope you will join us and become an active member of our listserv!

Society for the Psychology of Women (Division 35)
Submitted by Margaret Madden, PhD, President ( maddenme@mail.potsdam.edu )

Division 35, the Society for the Psychology of Women, members recently approved the creation of two new sections: one on Lesbian and Bisexual Women's Issues and another on Concerns of Hispanic Women, in addition to its long standing Section on the Psychology of Black Women. At its midwinter meeting, the Executive Committee will hold a planning session, to reach consensus about priorities for the Society and where to devote our human and financial resources for the next few years. In addition, President Margaret Madden has created several task forces that focus on issues of the undergraduate psychology curriculum and the experience of faculty members teaching psychology of women and gender in small psychology departments and small colleges, addressing Pedagogy and Learning at Small Colleges, Teaching in Small Departments, and Women and Gender in Psychology Curricula. Other task forces that continue work from the previous year address Adolescent Girls, Asian American Women, Counseling and Psychotherapy Guidelines, Early Career Psychologists, Feminist Leadership, Funding Opportunities for Research on Women, and Reproductive Issues. The Society would welcome collaborations with CWP or other divisions or APA groups on these and other topics related to women and gender issues.

Clinical Neuropsychology (Division 40) Women in Neuropsychology
Submitted by Cynthia S. Kubu, PhD, ABPP ( kubuc@ccf.org)

The Women in Neuropsychology group of Division 40 has been very active over the past year. WIN hosted a panel discussion at the International Neuropsychology Conference in 2003 that focused on grant activities. During the 2003 APA Convention, WIN coordinated a discussion on ways to become involved with editorial activities and strategies to increase women's representation on editorial boards. Upcoming events include hosting a discussion hour at the 2004 International Neuropsychology Society annual conference in February on strategies to combat harassment in work and training settings and facilitating a roundtable mentoring session with a variety of topics at the 2004 APA convention. WIN continues to maintain a listserv with 320 members, with the support of APA, and actively works to : 1) increase the number of Fellow applications from women in Division 40, 2) facilitate the election of women to Division 40 offices, 3) continue development of our mentoring program for women, and 4) provide activities at APA and INS that are oriented to the special needs and interests of women in the field.

National Council of Schools and Programs of Professional Psychology, Women's Issues Committee
Submitted by Nancy M. Sidun, PsyD, ABPP, ATR ( nsidun@argosyu.edu )