She was raised by working-class parents in an often tumultuous household.
Her mother, however, encouraged her daughter to pursue a life outside of housework.
She attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology (later called Carnegie-Mellon) and majored inpsychology.
There she met a young professor named Daryl Bem during the last year of her undergraduate studies.
She asked Daryl to supervise her independent studies, and the two quickly formed a romantic interest.
Sandra feared that marriage would hold her back from her career, so she initially declined his proposals.
In 1965, she enrolled at the University of Michigan and earned her Ph.D. in developmental psychology.
Her research interests while at Cornell centered on sexuality, androgyny, and gender schema theory.
The Bems' approach to marriage inspired Sandra to explore the detrimental impact of rigid and traditional sex roles.
She developed her gender schema theory to explain how society and culture transmit ideas about sex and gender.
Selected Publications
Bem won awards and recognition for many of her publications.
Bem SL.Is there a place in psychology for a feminist analysis of the social context?Feminism & Psychology.
1993;3(2),230-234. doi:10.1177/0959353593032009
Cornell University.Sandra Bem, feminist scholar and psychologist, dies.Cornell Chronicle.
Published May 22, 2014.
George M.Profile: Sandra Bem.Psychology’s Feminist Voices.Updated 2014.
Golden CR, McHugh MC.Sandra Lipsitz Bem (1944 - 2014).American Psychologist.
Published May 22, 2014.
