Read on Twitter
This article is not only utterly misogynistic, written by a man who clearly is jealousy of @DrBiden accomplishments, but also completely misinformed, because PhDs are the original doctors. MDs took that title long afterwards. @WSJopinion should do better. https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-there-a-doctor-in-the-white-house-not-if-you-need-an-m-d-11607727380
So nice to see the men coming at me for this tweet because I pointed out a case of misogyny with their own brand of whataboutism, more misogyny, general BS. And people wonder why it’s important to call out misogyny & patriarchy.
I’m glad to see Dr Biden is trending & that many men are calling out the misogyny, the wrong claim about doctorates as not being doctors, etc. I wonder how many men are being harassed by other men. I hope none, but given my experience within a few minutes of the OP, who knows.
The point is that women who have PhDs are frequently not given the recognition they deserve compared to men with PhDs, we are often not introduced with Dr when our male counterparts are, our accomplishments diminished or erased. This issue keeps coming up. https://www.kqed.org/science/1926489/should-all-ph-d-s-be-called-doctor-female-academics-say-yes
These issues of misrecognition or intentionally devaluing women’s accomplishments are even more critical for women of color who have PhDs. We are quite frequently called ‘Mrs’ or by our first name, while our male counterparts are called Dr. This is wrong. https://diverseeducation.com/article/134293/
Ultimately, it’s disrespectful & inaccurate to not call PhD-holders as Dr when people do so for MDs. It’s highly disparaging & misogynistic if it’s directed at a woman with a PhD. And if it’s done towards a person of color with PhD, that’s an additional layer of racism/misogynoir
Here’re the names that I’ve heard thus far that women who have earned their doctorates (aka PhD) have been called in situations & contexts where men with & without PhDs were referred to as Dr (i.e. these aren’t random moments):
Miss
Ms
Mrs
Dear
señora
(First name)
(Last name)
Miss
Ms
Mrs
Dear
señora
(First name)
(Last name)
Ph.D. & Ed.D. are both entitled to use the title of Dr because the D in the acronym stands for ‘doctorate’ which is where ‘doctor’ is shortened from. How hard is this to grasp? The author of the WSJ piece has no higher education degree & seems to suffer from a case of envy.
The seems to be quite a lot of mantrums & mansplaining going on today to justify mediocrity & misogyny. SMDH.
Bottom line: If a woman has earned the arduous, long & grueling degree of a doctorate, whether a PhD or EdD, she’s earned the right to use the title Dr. If she asks to be referred/introduced/called as Dr, do so. This doesn’t hold for honorary doctorates, but those actually earned
Men who’re upset over more qualified women using titles they have worked hard to ear, esp the white dudes, your fragile male egos are showing. Your white male mediocrity still earns you more pay, attention, fame than BIPOC folks more qualified than you. So please take a back seat
Relatedly, when women of color with doctorates are demeaned, devalued, gaslighted, harassed, etc, people should note the following statistics: https://twitter.com/prof_fsultana/status/1337892549592223748
The Dr Jill Biden situation matters bc there’re systemic barriers & patriarchal challenges globally to girls & women pursuing higher education. We’re often told to not dream big, our intellects aren’t valuable, our ideas don’t count. Men telling us to drop Dr is part of this bias
Poem by Susan Harlan
