Psychology, along with the majority of professions and scientific disciplines, has undergone dramatic shifts in gender composition over the past two decades. These changes have prompted concern that this increased participation by women may lead to erosion in the status of these occupations. This article describes the results of a case study of psychology conducted by a subcommittee of the American Psychological Association's (APA's) Task Force on the Changing Gender Composition of Psychology to examine the discipline's changing gender composition and the factors related to these shifts. Societal and disciplinary trends are examined, along with data on the patterns of men's and women's involvement in the educational pipeline and workplace. The results provide little support for the concern over the increasing representation of women and its impact on the prestige of the discipline. Rather, they suggest that changes in the nature and status of psychology per se may be at least partly responsible for the changes in male and female participation and that the nature, magnitude, and causes of these disciplinary changes require further examination. Specific recommendations for the APA prepared by another subcommittee of the Task Force are also presented in the Appendix.
This Psychology in the Public Forum section, authored by the American Psychological Association's Committee on Women in Psychology's Task Force on Male Violence Against Women and by Senator Joseph Biden, examines the prevalence, impact, and public policy dimensions of physical assault, sexual assault, and sexual harassment of women. This introduction reviews common themes that emerge from the articles that follow. It concludes by emphasizing that the problem of violence against women cannot be fully understood, let alone solved, by focusing exclusively on individual psychology. Only by changing the social and cultural institutions that have given rise to the problem can a lasting solution be achieved.
We express our appreciation to Jessica Kohout and Marlene Wicherski for providing the analyses of APA data and to Susan Houston, Leslie Cameron, and Le Anne Wisnieski for their indispensable staff support to the task force. Helen S. Astin, Phyllis Katz, and Georgine Pion served as consultants to the task force and provided invaluable feedback. We also thank Linda Zimler and Sam Bedinger of the National Center for Education Statistics for their help in obtaining and analyzing the 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty and Allen Meyer for his helpful feedback on successive drafts.Requests for copies of the full task force report should be sent to the Women'
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