Overcoming Gender Discrimination: The Journey of Female Psychiatrists

The first female psychiatrists working the asylums were not were not as McGovern put it “movers and shakers” (541). These women faced constant discrimination in their work. Being viewed as less ambitious and incapable of performing as well as a man, female psychiatry, unsurprisingly, rarely had a position of authority. Male assistances received special training opportunities which in turn led them to be promoted while women were stuck in low paying positions. In 1881, Alice Bennett, one of the earliest females to be appointed “Female Physician”, found herself in a small controversy regarding surgery. Despite the fact that Bennett made great strides for the improvement of patient treatment in asylums, she faced brutal attacks from people who
Sigmund Freud is an excellent example of male authority taking charge of a subject that he does not understand. Although Freud is largely recognized as a prestigious man of psychoanalysis, he had many outlandish ideas towards women, and he admitted to not understanding the complexities surrounding women. He clung to gender stereotypes and depicted the female as an inferior being, eternally jealous of men (Lax 394). The weak and incapable portrayal of female in Freud’s psychoanalytical theories treated the ability of women ever entering this new study of psychology. Freud’s arrival to America in 1909 began America’s fascination with psychoanalysis. The American Psychoanalytic Association was formed shortly after Freud’s visit and upheld a strict no women policy for fifteen years (McGovern). Freud was kind enough to share psychoanalysis with America, expect he made it a boys’ club with a no girls allowed rule and then decided to share his theories of female hysteria and penis envy (Lax). Sigmund Freud’s visit to America brought dangerous ideas and reinforced women’s role as inferior; however, the women of twentieth century America had had years of experience with controlling men and still found ways to infiltrate the American Psychoanalytic
Because psychoanalysis was new, not as organized, and slow to catch on, many meetings were held in a casual setting between only a handful of professional acquaintances (McGovern). These small meetings eventually opened up and offered a safe place for women to participate in a relaxed and accepting professional environment. The opportunity for women to share their brilliant minds “allowed women to demolish any vestiges of doubt among analysts about the intellectual limitations of women as professionals” (McGovern 546). It was through patience and earnest sincerity and passion that the women of twentieth century America were able to overcome the libel their sex was labeled with and earn their place to state their theories and