What Is The International Committee for Women? (Division 52 ICfW)
Joy K. Rice, Ph.D.
ICfW Is Established
The International Committee for Women, a Standing Committee of Division 52, International Psychology, has had a long and distinguished history within the division and APA. I hope that you will be interested in a brief summary of its interesting history and major accomplishments over the years.
Over twenty years ago the prominence of international issues as a focus of activity and advocacy in APA was somewhat muted. There was an Office of International Affairs established in 1989 (https://www.apa.org/international/pi/2005/07/issue.pdf) and a Division 35 Global Issues Committee, but there were no other separate international psychology committees within the divisions as there are today. Things began to change dramatically when in 1999 Division 52, International Psychology, was formed. Its first leaders, executive board and committees were appointed in their various roles, and an inaugural program was enthusiastically received at the annual APA meeting.
The Global Issues Committee of Division 35, formed in 1990, had asked women psychologists to consider to what extent was their work connected to and informed by realities of the world’s women and girls? This question also inspired and informed the formation and mission of the International Committee for Women, the first standing committee of the APA Division on International Psychology. Many women leaders active in international psychology wanted to see the new division take up issues important to women globally and pay greater attention to diversity and inclusion concerns.
Bearing these important questions in mind, in 1999 the author convened a small group of women who met at APA to discuss how we could infuse these questions and issues into the fabric of the brand new international division, and even more ambitiously, into the international efforts of APA. The newly formed International Committee for Women (ICfW) sparked the immediate interest of women across divisions in APA, and it became one of its most active committees. I was privileged to serve as ICfW’s first chair, and our initial task was to forge a mission statement that today continues to serve as the guiding light for the ICfW: The primary mission of the International Committee for Women (ICfW) will be to identify substantive issues that affect the welfare of women globally and to recommend action to the division. The committee will promote research, education, symposia, and projects that advance equality for women internationally and will encourage the awareness and infusion of gender equity issues throughout the activities of the division and APA.
From the beginning it was heartening to note that all the 52 division leaders and officers were supportive for its formation, designating it as a standing committee of the division. This was quite important as these chairs were part of the Executive Board and standing committees were expected to work continually on their mission and agendas and to present mid-year and annual reports to the board. From the very first meeting of the ICfW at APA 2000, there was high interest and participation and many projects initiated, including annual programs and symposia at APA sponsored by the ICfW. Recognizing the similarity of their respective missions and concerns, the Global Issues Committee and the International Committee for Women joined forces and for several years held their annual meetings at APA together. Today, however, that committee is no longer active, which parenthetically, makes it all the more important that our ICfW is an active endeavor.
By 2005 we had an amazing 33 women attend our annual APA committee meeting. Strong leadership really made a difference. Chairs of the committee served for two years, appointed by the division president upon recommendation of ICfW leadership. Early past chairs including Nancy Sidun, Lynn Collins, Irene Frieze, Carol Enns, Sayaka Machizawa and myself were very active in its first decade. With the enthusiastic participation of many committee members, important initiatives and projects got off the ground and were actualized.
ICfW Activities 2000 – 2018
COLLABORATION. Ongoing active communication is a key part of any collaboration, and we update our members through annual APA and mid-winter meetings, electronic announcements on our list serv, and articles in the divisional newsletters and websites. The importance of a discussion list serv includes not only posting information, but identifying issues and sharing information about interesting developments relevant to international women’s issues. We have shared internet resources with our membership and circulated lists of international websites on women in psychology. ICfW also has had liaisons with many other APA divisions and organizations who were encouraged to publicize our activities, recruit membership, and promote collaborative efforts in their respective divisional newsletters or other venues.
MENTORING. Another high point of the committee’s work in its early years was helping to launch a mentoring match project through the International Psychology Division. Chaired by Irene Frieze, many of our members served as initial mentors to emerging women leaders, students and early career psychologists throughout the world. In addition we identified the need for journal mentoring for international women psychologists who are required to publish in English in order to earn tenure. Additional mentoring efforts at our annual meetings have included division suite presentations, conversation hours and round tables designed to help women understand the ins and outs of publishing international research. An emphasis was on practical issues in publishing, especially the publishing challenges experienced by women and the needs of newcomers and early career psychologists.
ADVOCACY. From its inception, advocacy has been another integral part of our mission, – to cooperate and work with other APA divisions and with other organizations, both US based and internationally and to help and support women globally. Thus in the past decade we have sponsored projects and raised funds to help support the Pakistan Women’s University; RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan; Half the Sky Orphanage for Girls in China; CAST, the Coalition against Sex Trafficking; and MADRE in Latin and Central America.
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH. While advocacy is a part of our efforts, collaborative research is the heart. Since the inception of our group we have promoted collaborative research, networking opportunities in international psychology of women, and the dissemination and publicizing of members’ research on global women’s issues. Over the past decades our collaboration has led to the organization and presentation of dozens of APA convention symposia on highly relevant topics like Transracial Adoption; Sex Trafficking; Leadership Development for Women; International Media Depictions of Women; Reproductive Justice for Women Internationally; Psychotherapy with Women Internationally; Teaching the Psychology of Women from a Global Perspective; Collaboration and Partnerships in International Research; Internationalizing the Teaching of Health Psychology; Women’s Health, Process and Practice; Issues in Mentoring Women Internationally; Education and Attitudes towards International Women’s Rights; Feminist Perspectives on International Collaboration; Cross-national Comparative Experiences of Women Psychologists; Translating Feminist Research into the Public Sphere; Cross-cultural Perspectives on Feminist Therapy and Research; Gender Issues in Immigration; and Internationalizing the Curriculum, to name a few. I think it’s fair to say that during these years the presence of global women’s issues in APA annual programs was spear headed by ICfW.
Many of our sponsored symposia have become articles in professional journals as well as in the Feminist Psychologist and the International Psychology Bulletin and other venues of publication in psychology. Our long term research goal, however, has been always to mount a more ambitious research project beyond publishing individual articles. Thus early on we discussed a book of readings on women in international psychology or a supplementary textbook incorporating the voices of women psychologists around the world. However, it was at last the efforts of a past chair, Joan Chrisler, who took the ball and led us to actually realize this project with a book on global reproductive justice issues for women published in 2012.
Special Projects and Achievements
The ICfW became a very active voice for women within APA and our divisions through newsletter announcements, annual and mid-winter meetings, and the mounting of APA symposia and conversation hours. Our strategic planning efforts always include infusing awareness about international gender issues into APA committees, initiatives and concerns.
In line with our aim to more broadly foster awareness of women’s issues internationally and to increase consciousness about avoiding cultural nepotism in exporting western psychology, in 2000 a more ambitious project was born. A special ICfW task force of over 30 women, chaired by the author and Mary Ballou wrote and published a position paper on “Cultural and Gender Awareness in International Psychology. “ After four years of working with APA, CIRP, and multiple APA divisions, committees and boards, it was extensively revised, rewritten and adopted in August 2004 by APA’s Council of Representatives. The Resolution on Cultural and Gender Awareness in International Psychology was published in the American Psychologist and disseminated widely. The resolution recognizes the positive impact of U.S. psychology on world psychology, but was written to reflect a more sensitive understanding and appreciation of the cultural and gender implications of the wholesale exportation of the goals, values, outlook and methodology of Western psychology on the rest of the world. The APA Resolution on Cultural and Gender Awareness in International Psychology was a high point on the road to achieving our original mission awareness objective.
In collaboration with the APA Committee on Internationalizing the Psychology Curriculum, ICfW members also worked on integrating women’s issues within the curriculum in a manner consistent with the Resolution on Culture and Gender Awareness. Key questions and issues included: how do we examine and critique western gender constructs that are often presumed to be universal and how can non-western women’s experiences and perspectives inform the curriculum?
In 2005 to 2007 many Division 52 ICfW members and Division 35 (Psychology of Women) members worked on a special APA Task Force to produce the first set of guidelines for psychological practice with women. An intense three year project culminated in the publication of APA Guidelines for the Psychological Practice with Girls & Women. These guidelines were passed by APA in 2007, revised in 2015, and led to a book published by APA in 2010.
By 2014 ICfW leaders saw that a new perspective on understanding the problems and concerns of impoverished women and women globally was necessary. This perspective has come to be known as “transnational,” paying tribute and recognition to the complex personal, ethnic and social identities of women living on changing national borders, as refugees and immigrants. The ICfW worked with other divisions and inter-disciplinary organizations planning for a two day Summit on International Women in Psychology, held in Toronto before APA on August 4-5, 2015, entitled “From International to Transnational; Transforming the Psychology of Women.” The summit was chaired by Sayaka Machizawa, Lynn Collins, and the author and featured international and interdisciplinary women speakers. Task forces were formed on various topics, and the Summit led to a book on Women and Transnational Psychology, published in 2019 by APA. The Summit and book presented an important transforming perspective for women globally. The impact of COVID descending on us in 2019 cannot be overstated. Like all organizations and endeavors, it took a toll on all activities and meetings. The ICfW met virtually in 2020 and decided to pursue a special issue in Div52’s International Perspectives in Psychology (IPP) on Women during COVID-19 which was published in 2021.
In 2022 former chair Nancy Sidun along with Merry Bullock led a hybrid in-person and virtual ICfW meeting at the APA convention. Symposia were planned for the 2023 convention, and another special issue for IPP on reproductive justice was conceived and is in process. Most recently in January, 2023 ICfW members and former chairs had a Zoom meeting, chaired by Shaifali Sandhya, to discuss the history and achievements of the committee and to begin plans for revitalizing and continuing its important work and role. We are excited and hopeful that the Division 52 International Committee for Women will continue productive work in fulfilling its original mission “to identify substantive issues that affect the welfare of women globally and to recommend action to the division; to promote research, education, symposia, and projects that advance equality for women internationally; and to encourage the awareness and infusion of gender equity issues throughout the activities of the division and APA.”
In 2024 the International Committee for Women celebrated its 25th anniversary. A power point with pictures and comments from 26 active women leaders was presented at the Annual Meeting of the APA in August, 2024. A PDF of the power point can be seen in the ICFW section of the Division 52 web site.
Sources
Chrisler, J. C. (2012) Reproductive Justice: A Global Concern. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Collins, L., Machizawa, S. & Rice, J.K. (2019). Transnational Psychology of Women, Expanding International and Intersectional Approaches. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Enns, C., Rice, J. and Nutt, R, Eds. (2015). Psychological Practice with Women; Guidelines, Diversity and Empowerment. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Gibbons, J. & Sidun, N. M. (guest Co-Editors). (2021). Women during COVID-19. International Perspectives in Psychology, Vol. 10/3, Hogrefe.
Rice, J. K. & Ballou, M., et al (2004). APA Resolution on Culture and Gender Awareness in International Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Adopted July 28, 2004. http://www.apa.org/about/governance/council/policy/gender.aspx
Rice, J. K., Nutt, R. & Enns, C. Z. (2007). Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Women and Girls. American Psychologist, 62(9), 949-979.