"The idea of having a body was to be strong in the reproductive sense," Conway said, "It was though that competition would destroy every aspect of the nurturing self."
These discoveries inspired Conway's professional crusade. Even as late as 1975, as Smith College president, she fought the administration to allow students to compete on an intercollegiate level. Before then, the female student body participated only in intramural athletics.
Throughout most of history, women have censored their physical salves, Conway said. According to Conway, women's self-perceptions are swiftly changing; however, there are still inequalities involved with the concept of female embodiment.
"Instead of heroines, we have role models. Only men have heroes, and only women have role models. I think it is time for women to have heroines," she said.
Conway received her Ph.D. from Harvard in 1960 and continued to teach at Harvard and the University of Toronto until she became the first woman president of Smith in 1975, where she remained until 1985.
Perhaps most acclaimed for her 1989 autobiography, The Road to Coorain, Conway is now a visiting professor at MIT.