In 1955, Ekenvall began to work as a librarian and in 1957 was hired at the Gothenburg City Library. In 1958, she joined with
Rosa Malmström and
Eva Pineus, who was chair of the
Fredrika Bremer Association in Gothenburg, to set up the
Kvinnohistoriskt arkiv (Women's History Archive). The purpose of the private archive was not only to preserve archival materials and maintain a record of current research into women's history, but also to provide a means to publish materials on women's history and issues. Because Ekenvall wanted to maintain the neutrality of the organization and not support political factions, she wrote to women from all walks of life, like
Inga Thorsson and
Barbro Alving asking for their support in the drive to create an international research center. When the management of the Gothenburg City Library was transferred from the
Gothenburg Municipality to state management as the
Gothenburg University Library in 1961, Ekenvall transferred to the new organization and in 1968 was appointed as the head librarian. She continued her own research into women's history and in 1966, published
Manligt och kvinnligt: idéhistoriska studier. Her study evaluated historic ideas of women by philosophers like
Plato,
Aristotle, and
Thomas Aquinas, positing that their characterizations of women was one of subordinate helper whose purpose in life was to reproduce. Passing through history, these ideas then morphed into social customs treating men and women as opposites. In historic terms, men were subjects and women became objects; men became providers and women became beneficiaries, leading to customs in which men's value as paid laborers restricted women's ability to work outside the home. A "pioneering work",
Manligt och kvinnligt was republished in 1992. In 1972, Ekenvall was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the
University of Gothenburg and that same year, the
Kvinnohistoriskt arkiv was transferred to the care of the university, as the
Kvinnohistoriska samlingarna (KvinnSam, Women's History Collections). Though she did not take over running the collections, Ekenvall continued her work as chief librarian and researcher at the university library. In 1978, she retired and then having lost her husband in 1975, moved to Stockholm. She continued her interdisciplinary approach to the evaluation of the roles women occupied throughout history, combining anthropology, historical analysis and philosophy to produce both research and textbooks. Some of her best known works from this period include
Groddjuren som frukbarhetssymboler (Frogs as Fertility Symbols, 1974), which explored similarities in cultural views of fertility throughout history, and
Batrachians som symboler för liv, död och kvinna (1978). Ekenvall was an important player in the Swedish women's movement of the late 1970s and 1980s. Though she was committed to social involvement, Ekenvall drew a line between her activities in the women's movement and her research activities. In part, this was due to her recognition that to gain respect in the male-dominated academic world, research about women had to rely on a wide range of many different disciplines producing secure scientific results or they would be undervalued and dismissed. In 1982, she participated in the interdisciplinary women's university conference hosted in Umeå with around 200 of the most prominent women researchers of the era. Ekenvall was honored as a '''' (Named professor) by the Swedish government in 1996. ==Death and legacy==