Title

Searching for the Second Generation of American Women Psychologists

Department/School

Psychology

Date

2008

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1037/1093-4510.11.1.40

Abstract

As a consequence of the groundbreaking work of E. Scarborough and L. Furumoto (1987), the contributions of the pioneering first generation of American women psychologists are now well recognized within the history of psychology; however, the generation that followed the pioneers is less well known. The lack of recognition that most women psychologists of the interwar era experienced during the majority of their working lives resulted from sexism institutionalized through practices such as anti-nepotism rules that effectively excluded many married women from the academy, informal hiring practices operating in "old-boy network" fashion, and exclusion from certain key graduate training centers. Yet, many women were productive psychologists during this era and contributed to the growth and expansion of the discipline. Examination of published literature generated biographical information for 107 eminent women; C. A. Murchison's (1932b) Psychological Register provided a less detailed but more inclusive inventory to yield data on a total of 320 women. This article recounts our systematic search for this "lost generation" and emphasizes the extent and diversity of their contributions to psychology.

Volume

11

Issue

1

Published in

History of Psychology

Citation/Other Information

Johnston, E., & Johnson, A. (2008). Searching for the Second Generation of American Women Psychologists. History of Psychology, 11(1), 40-72. https://doi.org/10.1037/1093-4510.11.1.40

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