In 1961, President John F. Kennedy established the President's Commission on the Status of Women, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, to explore ways in which government could support women in realizing their full potential. Issued in 1963, the commission's report, American Women, detailed the discrimination women faced at every level of society, from employment and wages to education to civil rights. The report also recommended several ways to address these inequities.
Although she would not live to see it published, Mrs. Roosevelt prefaced the report by stating that many of these barriers to women's aspirations would disappear in the years that followed. Indeed, from 1963 to 1974, the country would see new laws passed, executive orders issued, and Supreme Court decisions handed down supporting equal pay, equal access to credit, affirmative action in employment and education, birth control, abortion rights, and banning pregnancy discrimination and sexual harassment.
Psychologists were actively involved in the work of the commission. In the 50 years since American Women was published, they have conducted research to support education, practice, legislation, policy and activism on issues related to gender discrimination and gender role attitudes. Psychologists' work has provided critical insights on affirmative action in education and employment, violence against women, abortion, depression, feminist therapy, women's achievement, sexual harassment, stereotypes, social class and leadership.
APA's Public Interest Women's Programs Office, established in 1977, continually monitors the status of women and girls to improve the health and well-being of women psychologists and women consumers of psychological services. On an ongoing basis, the office works closely with the Society for the Psychology of Women, Association for Women in Psychology, Women's Caucus of APA's Council of Representatives and APA's Committee on Women in Psychology.
In addition to several other special and ongoing projects, the office explores the safety and security of women and girls in its latest consumer brochures on intimate partner violence. The brochures — one directed at women in general and the other at women with disabilities — describe intimate partner violence, forms of psychological aggression and evidence-based facts about risk factors, and offer resources for those experiencing intimate partner violence. Last year, the Committee on Women in Psychology was the catalyst for creating a task force of experts to review the psychological theory, research and practice related to the trafficking of women and girls (see "The unknown victims of trafficking"). The task force's final report synthesizes the dearth of psychological research on the topic, noting that trafficking is notoriously difficult to measure because of its clandestine nature, the desperate characteristics of identified cases, and the fact that it often occurs in conjunction with such other crimes as prostitution, intimate partner violence and child abuse. We do know, however, that the mental and physical health consequences of trafficking are dire. The task force report includes a section on psychologists' roles and offers recommendations for engagement in training, education, practice, advocacy and awareness-raising activities designed to address the unique nature of trafficking.
Victims of trafficking can and do heal, and psychologists are and must continue to be instrumental in the process. For more information about this and other activities and resources from the APA Women's Programs Office, visit APA's Public Interest Directorate.
As a side note, I also hope you will join me and my colleagues at APA's Annual Convention in Washington, D.C., Aug. 7–10 for Public Interest Directorate programming on psychology's contributions to issues of community violence and much more. Details are available online. I hope to see you there!