AWP Herstory

Watch our brief introductory video, "AWP: Stories from the Founding to the 50th"

The Association for Women in Psychology was convened during the 1969 meeting of the American Psychological Association because APA was not responding to the issues raised by the new women's liberation movement.

AWP members continued to speak out at APA meetings over the next few years about employment discrimination, sexual harassment, lack of research and theory on women, and other issues we now collect under the term "sexism."

Because of AWP's efforts, an official group for the psychology of women (Division 35) was created in APA in 1973. In 1977, joint AWP and Division 35 efforts resulted in the creation of a Women's Program Office at APA headquarters.

More than three decades later, AWP continues to play an active role outside of APA, sponsoring annual and occasional regional conferences on feminist psychology and publishing a newsletter. We make several awards annually on topics relevant to feminist psychology.

Attached is a detailed Herstory in two parts written by activist, feminist psychologist, and long-time AWP member and leader Leonore Tiefer.

AWP Herstory Part 1 (1969-1991)

AWP Herstory Part 2 (1991-2008)

In anticipation of AWP’s 50^th anniversary in 2019 Rachel Corbman and Leonore Tiefer developed the AWP Herstory Project  which includes the following resources
 

• Interactive Map of Conference locations from 1973-2023.
• A chart of all members of the Implementation Collective and their roles between 1980 and 2023.
• A timeline of AWP caucuses between 1990 and 2019.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AWP HERSTORY PROJECT HERE