Feminist Psychology in the Service of Women: Staying Engaged Without Getting Married

Abstract

This article, based on the 2005 Society for the Psychology of Women Presidential Address, presents a definition of feminism and evaluates feminist psychology and its current challenges through that lens. The principal theme is the tension between feminist psychology's engagement with the discipline and its ability to critique and alter both the discipline and the world. The article includes an analysis of the original 52 demands presented by women activists to the APA's Council of Representatives in 1970. Those demands are evaluated both in terms of progress and lack of achievement, as well as in terms of the limitations of the professional women's movement reflected in those original demands. The lack of success in achieving demands associated with structural change is highlighted. A framework for future feminist work that might achieve transformational change is offered.