Women in Early Psychology - Essay Example

The purpose of this research is to document, evaluate and make visible the diversity and excellence of women's contributions to the subfield emerged in the form of child psychology. How and in what circumstances women pioneers cascade in the field and what motivated them to devote their significant contributions towards child psychology are the concerns that not only enabled contemporary psychologists to acknowledge the broadening of framework within which women sought knowledge in context with child psychology, but these are the issues which no doubt laid the foundation for the integration of women's contributions into children works.

Therefore, this paper is a brief effort to seek and analyze the extent to which contemporary psychologists complement earlier work so as to provide a brief synopsis of examining the careers and contributions of women psychologists since the inception of child psychology as a science in the late nineteenth century. Women's entry into psychology is though associated with a myriad of overlapping and interweaving social and economic factors shaping American culture in the early nineteenth century. . women to enter into psychology include the events of world wars, the great depression and its social and economic aftermath, while the civil rights movement and the resurgence of the women's movement in the 1960s and 1970s were also the factors responsible for provoking awareness among women.

Many early male psychologists believe that the credit of entering women in this field goes to feminists because early feminists who organized the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention intended equality for women. But since political realities oppose and led this notion to exploit the rhetoric of the reform movements, it was decided by the bureaucrats that in order to maximize voting (which was needed badly at that time) women could stand near the ballot box to watch the children casting vote at the ballot box (O' Connell & Russo, 1988, p. 9). Later with the help of feminist reform movements when women were given access to higher education, better conditions of employment and equal political rights, the emphasis on child welfare increased and was accompanied by a societal and professional approach.

This trend led women to be more professional resulting in the emergence of women's contribution towards psychological science, which served as a tool to access higher education. Working along political school of thought, with such approach women started contemplating the role of the 'motherhood' in context with a scientific line of work that required intelligence and training in order to produce healthy generation. Thus, motherhood along with the collaboration of science initiated a unique service of child welfare that suggested a framework behind women's higher education and that was to encourage women's participation in the world of child psychology.

The Contribution of Stella