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Results of the Committee on Psychology 1996 Questionnaire: Regional
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REGIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION RESULTS
There are 7 regional psychological associations in the United States
affiliated with the American Psychological Association. Six of the associations (86%)
responded to the CWP women's leadership questionnaire. Four of the questionnaires (67%)
were completed by the association presidents.
See Table 3.
Of the six regional associations responding to the survey, only Rocky
Mountain and New England provided information on the percentage of women in the total
membership: 54% and 50% respectively. The two associations with the highest concentration
of women serving on the executive board/committee are New England with 16 women (64%) and
Southwestern with ten (59%).
Four out of the six regional associations (67%) indicated that in the
past 10 years, half of the presidents have been women. Participation of women on the
executive committees varies from a low of 26.3% for the Eastern Psychological Association
to 64% for the New England Psychological Association. For the four regional psychological
associations with permanent committees, the Southeastern Psychological Association has one
permanent committee which is chaired by a woman (100%), the Southwestern Psychological
Association has two permanent committees both chaired by women (100%), the Eastern
Psychological Association has four committees of which two are chaired by women (50%), and
New England has three permanent committees of which one is chaired by a woman (33%).
Each regional psychological association was asked whether and how they
addressed women's issues and/or issues of gender equity. The Southeastern Psychological
Association has a formal committee to address women's issues and/or gender equity (17% of
the total); the Eastern and Southwestern Psychological Associations (33% of the total)
indicated that ad hoc committees or task forces might be created to address the issue(s);
and the remaining three associations (50%) responded in an "other" category
which included the following answers:
- discussion on the executive committee (New England)
- a representative on the executive committee for groups underrepresented in psychology
(Rocky Mountain)
- not an issue (Midwestern)
All six regional psychological associations (100%) indicated that they
had an annual/biannual meeting/conference. Four of the regional psychological associations
(67%) said they would be including programs addressing issues specifically related to
women at their next meeting/conference and one (17%) said yes they would, if those types
of programs were submitted. The Southeastern Psychological Association stated that 36
hours at their next meeting/conference were focused on gender, ethnicity, and under
representation issues. The Eastern Psychological Association was dedicating 11% of their
program hours to these issues and the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association was
dedicating 10% of their hours.
When asked whether the regional association would be including any
programs addressing women's equity at their next meeting/conference, only the Southeastern
Psychological Association said they were including programs on women's equity. The
Southwestern Psychological Association indicated they would include such programming if
submitted, but neither association indicated the percentage of hours dedicated to these
programs. None of the regional psychological associations indicated having a mentoring
program.
The data in Table 3 show that regional
psychological associations range in size from 522 (Rocky Mountain) to 3,500 (Eastern)
members. Only New England and Rocky Mountain disagregate their membership data by gender.
Women participate on the executive board/committee within each of the regions and they
have held the office of president in each of the six regions as well, most notably in the
Eastern, Midwestern, New England and Southwestern psychological associations, in which
women have served five times in the last ten years. The participation rate of women at
regional meetings/conferences cannot be calculated because none of the six associations
monitor this kind of information. However, attention is being focused on including
programs related to women at meetings/conferences as four associations made plans to do so
and a fifth said it would if those types of programs were submitted for discussion. Less
emphasis was placed on women’s equity programs at meetings/conferences as only two
regions indicated they would be addressing those topics. The implementation of a mentoring
program was also not a priority. Although six of the seven regional psychological
associations responded to our survey, most indicated that they did not track information
on the number of women members.
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