Creative Productivity in Women Analysts

Abstract

A pilot study of female analyst creative productivity finds that women authors are well represented in numbers in two leading analytic journals, The Journal of The American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, for 1980-81. However, women analyst members of the journals' parent organizations are very poorly represented compared with male analyst members. This has led to an exploration of factors affecting female analyst productivity, encompassing a broad sweep from the sociological to the personal, dynamic level. Differential opportunities for women analysts may be inherent in the educational processes. There is evidence for an "accumulation of disadvantage" for women in the field of psychiatry, as well as the impression of gender bias and feelings of stigmatization in psychoanalysis. The question of whether academic research career paths for women are adequately encouraged is raised. Mentorship patterns are also discussed. Whether gender bias affects journal publications and the nature of psychoanalytic thinking is questioned. Women's lessened productivity is sometimes ascribed to practical aspects of feminine role. This myth is debunked for women in science, where married women with children are equally productive. The author suggests that women analysts, however, may be a select group and may be more subject to role conformity pressures. Feminine role conflicts and their effects are discussed. Dynamic issues related to creative productivity are explored in two major areas. The author suggests that female preoedipal object relations may play a part in females devaluing of their own creative efforts in a competitive arena. The oedipal situation is also discussed, especially with regard to very high-achieving women. It is suggested that though competition with the maternal-nurturant rival may be worked through, often there is incomplete resolution of the surpassing and separation from the protective, loving, but dominant oedipal father, thus limiting true professional autonomy.