Born Elizabeth Ames Hall in Brooklyn, New York, her naval architect father and homemaker mother fell on hard times during the Depression, leading her to end her Swarthmore College education and help support the family by creating bargain-basement sale slogans (she graduated from Barnard College just a few years later, in 1935).

Janeway finally finished Girls in 1943 while awaiting the birth of her second child; she signed the contract with the publishers while en route to the hospital.

Many of Janeway's early works focused on the family situation, with occasional glimpses at the struggles of women in modern society.

In the early 1970s, she began a more explicitly feminist path with works such as Man's World, Woman's Place: A Study of Social Mythology.

The Star Trek: Voyager character Kathryn Janeway originally shared her name, but writers changed the name after learning of her.