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WOMEN IN CURRICULUM

Psychology is a science and a profession, which means that the feminist challenge to the field has involved critique of both the generation and the application of psychological knowledge. From the very beginning of psychology's more than 100-year history in the United States, feminist psychologists have sought to use their knowledge and skills to challenge sexism in psychology and society, empower women, connect social and political contexts to psychological dynamics, and develop a knowledge base relevant to women's lives. This rich tradition has been reclaimed by late twentieth century feminist psychologists. Today, hardly a theory, method, or area of application escapes feminist analysis. In addition to critiquing omissions in and inappropriate applications of psychological knowledge and method, feminist psychologists are transforming the field by identifying new issues, alternative perspectives, and new audiences for research. In this brief essay, we summarize some basic elements of the feminist challenge to psychology's ways of constructing knowledge, and identify resources for continuing the transformation of the field.

Feminist psychologists have challenged the assumption that psychological science is value-free, documenting the influence of values at every phase of psychology's scientific enterprise, including who gets to be trained and hired, whose theoretical frameworks are accepted, who defines legitimacy for research questions, what questions are asked, what methodologies are deemed "scientific" and appropriate for constructing knowledge, how results are analyzed, interpreted, and reported, and who receives credit for a piece of work.

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