About this Research Topic

Background

Frontiers in Psychology is launching this Research Topic, Women in Psychology: The Gender Gap and Beyond, to celebrate UN's International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

In the lists of pioneers in the history of psychology, the predominance of theorists who were men could lead one to conclude that women played a limited role in the early years of this science. In fact, it is estimated that in the early 1900s, one in 10 psychologists in the United States was a woman. This gender imbalance has greatly changed over the last few decades, with new data from the APA Center for Workforce Studies (2018) showing that the percentage of psychologists who are women increased from 57% in 2007 to 65% in 2016. Today, at the undergraduate and graduate levels, the proportion of women in psychology programs is much larger than men. However, in many universities there continues to be a lack of representation of women in the field’s top echelons. Although gender bias and gender imbalance remain serious concerns within the field of psychology, nevertheless there are many influential and successful women who are making important contributions.

According to an article by Haggbloom and colleagues (2002), who ranked 99 of the most eminent psychologists of the 20th century, only 6 women were included among their male counterparts. Given the predominance of women in the field, the small representation on this list is striking. The lack of women and underrepresented minorities who progress to roles of seniority in their field is often attributed to the ‘leaky pipeline,’ a metaphor used to describe the loss of women from academia. Many contributing factors to the leaky pipeline have been elucidated, including: lack of mentorship, unequal division of labor in the work force, unequal division of labor at home (including motherhood), bias in grant funding, etc. In addition, the term ‘leaky pipeline’ could also devalue women’s contributions in contexts other than traditional academia.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted these disparities, as women scientists, more so than their men counterparts, bear a greater burden of homeschooling their children and additional household and caretaking tasks, such as caring for vulnerable parents. In the long term, the changes in scientific productivity that have taken place since the second quarter of 2020 will have an impact on career progression, where those who have had lower non-work loads may advance faster. These inequalities will likely affect women in academia to a greater extent.

This Research Topic would therefore like to highlight and celebrate women’s contributions to psychology, as well as discuss the state of the field in terms of gender imbalance and recommended actions for the community to take. Themes of interest include (but are not limited to):

Celebrating Women in Psychology

• General perspectives on a specific field of psychology inspired or started by a woman;
• Areas within psychology where the contribution of women has been particularly relevant;
• Manuscripts celebrating outstanding women psychologists and their contributions;
• Manuscripts by women psychological scientists from underrepresented backgrounds (e.g., non-WEIRD countries);

Advances and Barriers within the Field of Psychology for Women

• Manuscripts highlighting how the field has progressed in terms of equity and diversity;
• Manuscripts highlighting where barriers remain in career progression and success as a woman scientist/researcher within psychology;

Guidelines and Recommended Actions:

• Manuscripts suggesting guidelines for gender equity programs in academia (e.g. overcoming gender stereotypes; supporting early-stage career development, supporting women to attain leadership positions; strengthening women’s visibility and their role in communication; increasing women's influence in innovation and psychology-society relationships);
• Manuscripts discussing specific gender-based problems (e.g., gender pay gap, work-life balance, maternity leave, familial caregiving)

We strongly encourage the submission of manuscripts where the lead and/or corresponding author is a woman, and we encourage early-career researchers to team up with senior women colleagues. Still, we will welcome the submission of all manuscripts that are within scope, irrespective of gender.




Image credit: Sasin Tipchai via Pixabay

Keywords: Women, Psychology, Academic career, Leadership, Gender equity, Gender gap

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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