Mary Pipher is a clinical psychologist and cultural anthropologist who specializes in developmental psychology, trauma, women, and the effects of culture on mental health. She worked as a therapist for 25 years. Pipher was 70 when she wrote Women Rowing North, allowing her to share her experiences transitioning into old age through stories in the book, including her experiences with her husband, family, friends, and grandchildren.

Pipher has taught the Psychology of Women and Sex Roles and Gender at the University of Nebraska. She has been a Rockefeller Scholar in Residence at Bellagio in 2001 and received two American Psychological Association Presidential Citations. She has worked with and researched mostly women.

Pipher has written 11 books, including the New York Times bestseller Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, published in 1994. In Reviving Ophelia, Pipher considers the lives and experiences of adolescent girls from a feminist perspective, in contrast to the focus on older women in Women Rowing North. A related book, Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders, addresses the social and emotional issues faced by older people in general, the relationship between older and younger generations, and how they can understand each other.