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ee et Te ee inane ene te we ee el OMe ene ae . Ps toe 6 om 3: This year at the American Psychological Associae tion, three symposia were devoted to women . and their roles in 802 _ ciety today. The first, Women as Scientists and. Subjects", was chaired by Ethel Toback of the American Museum of Natural History. After the papers were presented, discus- sions revealed that all present, men and women, felt that immediate, positive action should be taken to end sex discrin- inatory (sexist) practices. a At an ad hoc meeting later that evening two petitions were prepared, The first, headed “ACCREDITATION”, called for the. American Psychological Association to ine clude discriminatory practices against women as a reason for non-accreditation of an institution's psychology department; and that accreditation will be withheld until discriminatory policies and prace tices have been rescinded. . The second petition, headed "SEXTSM", was directed at APA's own practices, which created difficulties for women attempting to function as psychologists. : The third, titled "ABORTION", urged the Council of Representatives of the APA to _ pass a resolution that abortion on demand was a civil right of al] pregnant women and should be handled like any other medi- cal procedure, The Accreditation mitttion | was later 7 presented by PSA to the APA Council and is . Mow on the Agenda for the October Council Meeting. The Sexism and Abortion petitions will be delivered to APA headquarters with. an urgent request that they also be placed on the October Agenda. On Tuesday, the second symposium, "Woman as Subject", sponsored by the Women's Consortium of PSA, and chaired by — Joan Berman of Chicago PSA, stirred up further support for the developing move- ) REE. aL WOMEN | .SELA... _B-UP APA Later Wednesday afternoon, the third and final symposium, organized and chaire ed by Jo-Ann E, Gardner, University of Pittsburgh, "What can the sciences do to modify the world so that women who want to participate meaningfully are not ree garded as, and are not in fact, deviant?" was held, | - Wednesday evening, a a "party with & pure pose” was held in the suite that had become the women's group headquarters, Dr. Marshall Jones attended to discuss the next convention and heard at first hand some of the experiences that female psych- - ologists had endured in their search for meaningful participation. Virtually all the males present were clearly shocked and distressed at the extent and intensity of the discrimination the women had experien- ‘ced, A demand was raised that next year's convention's theme be concerned with changing sex roles, and a letter incor= porating the demand was composed and Signed. The name "Association for Women Psychologists (AWP) was chosen for the group. Pittsburgh Chapter member Jo@/Ann Gardner emerged as a leader of the group. At a final convention meeting of the group, a list of long and short term ob- jectives were drawn up, plans. were > made, and resources allocated. 1, Discrimination because of sex is ram pant within the APA and among employers, but responsible women and men in adminise trative positions in APA appear to be une aware of its seriousness. 2. There is an accelerating trend for members of oppressed minorities to take exception to the status quo. Increasingly women are recognizing that they belong to the oppressed, exploited group. 3. ‘These attempts to change the status quo are not heeded until a militant pos- . ture is assumed by the dissident group, even when the demands are based on existe _ing law and explicitly stated policy. 4. Violence and the threat of violence by other groups has proved effective in went, In the workshop "Women in Work and became. ‘woman there had experienced discrimina fon in employment. This symposium also was ‘followed by an ad hoc evening meeting on . employment practices. tion ‘that a curprising proportion of women are sufficiently angry to seriously consider ways and means of using violence to elim- inate discrimination on the basis of sex. _ Ann de Wolfe 13 5