Canadian Perspectives on Feminism and Psychology

Abstract

(from the chapter) Within the Canadian context, there have been periodic reviews of the status of feminism within psychology, starting with a review article on the first decade of feminist psychology in Canada that appeared in Canadian Psychology/Psychologic Canadienne, a journal published by the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) and sent to all association members (Pyke & Stark-Adamec, 1981). Two decades later, in 2001, a special issue of Canadian Psychology/Psychologic Canadienne, entitled Looking Forward, Looking Back: Women in Psychology, focused on the history and future of the Section on Women and Psychology (SWAP), which had been established in 1976 as an interest group within CPA. More recently, in 2006, a special issue of the journal Feminism & Psychology aimed to showcase Canadian feminist psychology for an international audience and provide an opportunity for feminist psychologists in Canada to engage in some self-reflection (Bergeron, Senn, & Poulin, 2006). This chapter builds on the analyses found in these sources and aims to look to the future. It begins by locating Canadian psychology within the Canada-U.S. context, briefly describing the early history of academic Canadian psychology, especially in relation to women, in order to provide some sense of the cultural constraints within which feminist psychologists have worked. Next, the author discusses the origins and development of feminist psychology in Canada and locates it within the current institutional context. Finally, she identifies research trends in feminist psychology today. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).