This study examined the relationships among perceived social support, beliefs about how one would fare in a science career, and perceptions and choice of a career in science. Participants were 48 men and 33 women from the Midwestern United States who had been identified as gifted in mathematics and science and participated in a high school science enrichment program. They ranged in age from 24 to 28 years old, and the sample was predominantly White (83.3%). Participants completed an online measure approximately 10 years after the program ended examining their sources of support and beliefs about the self as a scientist to see how these variables influence perceptions of a science career and actual career. We expected that the relationship between perceived support from people and current job held would be mediated by participants’ beliefs about their personal life as a scientist in the future. Similarly, we expected that the relationship between a perceived supportive environment and having a science career would be mediated by participants’ beliefs about their career as a scientist in the future. Findings indicated that social support contributed directly to men’s and women’s ability to envision themselves in a future science career, which, in turn, predicted their interest in and motivation for a science career. No significant gender differences were found in the predictors of men’s and women’s perceptions and choice of a science career. Implications for recruitment of students into scientific majors and careers are discussed.

The psychology of women is a subdiscipline of the field of psychology with the primary goal of understanding and improving the lives of girls and women through improved research, methods of practice, and dissemination of knowledge about sex and gender. The psychology of women does not encompass all theory and research about women; instead, it includes only that which is undertaken from the epistemological perspectives and principles of feminism. This area of psychology was spurred by serious limitations in psychological theory and research that date back to the inception of psychology in the late 1890s. During these early years of psychology, male pioneers in the field, such as Francis Galton and William James, held firm opinions of the temperamental and intellectual inferiority of women (Rosenberg, 1982). Along with most of the general public at the time, these early psychologists presumed that gender differences were large in magnitude, inherited, and immutable. To further illustrate misogyny within the field, women were excluded from many educational and professional opportunities in the early decades of psychology. In one striking example, Mary Whiton Calkins was denied a doctorate from Harvard even though she achieved all requirements for the degree, and she went on to have a distinguished research and teaching career. Keywords: feminist psychology; gender differences; gender attitudes

Feminism has been theorized to have a number of benefits for women, including increased self-esteem and self-efficacy (Carter & Spitzack, 1990; McNamara & Rickhard, 1989; Morley, 1993), identity achievement (Stein & Weston, 1982), psychological well-being (Saunders & Kashubeck-West, 2006), and cognitive flexibility (Gerstmann & Kramer, 1997) as well as decreased weight concern (Guille & Chrisler, 1999), psychological distress (Landrine & Klonoff, 1997), and feelings of depression (Weitz, 1982). However measures of feminist attitudes and feminist identity have frequently been conflated in the research on this topic, such that most of the research on the relationship of feminism to mental health variables has assessed feminist attitudes rather than feminist identity. As a result, there is little research to support the possible benefits of adopting a feminist identity. In this chapter the empirical research on the relationship of feminist attitudes and feminist identity to self-esteem and self-efficacy, weight concern, psychological well-being, relationships and sexuality, sexism and psychological distress, personality, and cognitions will be reviewed. Due to the frequent conflation of feminist attitudes and feminist identity, the different relationships between mental health variables and feminist attitudes and feminist identity will be clearly delineated. Other critiques of the research on the relations between feminism and mental health variables will also be addressed.

African American (AA) women have reported less body image disturbance than European American (EA) women, but questions remain about the nature and extent of this difference. This study examined differences in the body image of 80 AA women and 89 EA women with an improved methodology that controlled for body size, distinguished between satisfaction with and importance of body features, and included nonweight (e.g., hair texture, skin color) as well as weight-related features. Results provide evidence that, in contrast to AA women, EA women (a) were more dissatisfied with both weight and specific appearance features, (b) compared themselves more often to media beauty figures and internalized Western beauty standards more, and (c) showed a significant relation between media comparisons and body dissatisfaction. Internalization of Western beauty ideals was related to body dissatisfaction in both groups of women.

Feminist theorists have suggested that feminism provides a number of benefits for women, particularly regarding self-evaluations. However, most studies have conflated feminist attitudes and feminist identity. The main goal of this study was to assess the differential relationships of feminist attitudes and feminist identity to self-efficacy. Four hundred thirty-five students were surveyed at the beginning and end of their women's and gender studies (WGS) classes. In general, feminist attitudes and feminist identity were related to self-efficacy variables at pretest and to change in these variables over time. Feminist identity partially mediated the relationship between feminist attitudes and self-efficacy. Additionally, the results of this study generally support previous findings regarding the effect of WGS classes on students' feminist attitudes, feminist identity, and self-efficacy. Implications of these findings for the importance of feminist identity are discussed.

We explored responsiveness to women’s and gender studies (WGS) in a large sample of students (519 women and 143 men) enrolled in one of 48 WGS classes offered at one of six colleges in a large Midwestern urban area. Our results revealed that, as a group, students felt far more empowered by their classes than distressed or angry, developed positive relationships with their WGS teachers and fellow students, and changed during their classes toward greater awareness of sexism. Women began their classes with greater awareness of sexism and openness to diversity in gender roles than men, but men showed as much change toward feminist attitudes as did women by the end of the semester-long classes. Although women reported more positive classroom relationships and greater feelings of empowerment from their WGS experience than men, men were not more distressed or angry about their classes. African Americans had greater awareness of sexism than Asian Americans or Euro-Americans as they began their classes, but the latter groups had caught up to the African Americans by the end of class. Asian Americans were less open to gender diversity than Euro-Americans and African Americans, but Euro-American, Asian American, and African American students changed equally over time on this dimension. Students who began their classes with more feminist attitudes experienced by the end of class more feelings of empowerment and, when ceiling effects were minimized, showed more change toward awareness of sexism and flexibility in gender roles than students who began with less feminist attitudes. The development of positive classroom relationships served as a medium through which these changes came about. Pedagogical and research implications of the findings are discussed.

Predictors of change in feminist activism were studied in a group of 519 women and 143 men enrolled in 48 women’s and gender studies (WGS) classes on six college campuses in a large Midwestern urban area. Over the semester-long classes, students increased their feminist activist behaviors and intention to engage in future activism. Although women had greater activist behaviors and intentions than men, increases were similar for women and men across time. African American and Euro American students increased to a similar extent and more so than Asian American students. Predictors of change included student initial gender attitudes, changes in attitudes over time, and feelings of empowerment gained from the class. Feelings of distress and anger were unrelated to activism. Both awareness of sexism and gender egalitarianism were predictive of changes in activist intentions, whereas only awareness of sexism predicted changes in activist behaviors. Empowerment mediated the relation between attitudes and activism. Pedagogical and methodological implications are discussed.

Women's and gender studies (WGS) classes and programmes have been developed on many university and college campuses around the world. Despite some success in the establishment of WGS in higher education, WGS has been the target of significant criticism. Detractors of WGS have charged that WGS is intellectually frivolous and that WGS teachers focus excessively on students' personal thoughts and experiences, are intolerant of differing opinions, present a narrow political ideology and, in many cases, cause distress to students. In contrast, WGS pedagogists have emphasized the importance of allowing students to express their thoughts and opinions and of developing open‐mindedness and scholarly, critical thinking. Further, they have asserted that WGS courses promote important educational goals, including increased awareness of sexism and other social inequities, more egalitarian attitudes toward women and other traditionally oppressed groups, and active community involvement to promote social equality. This review considers the empirical evidence for these competing opinions of the value and impact of WGS.