What’s Up, Doc?

 By: Dr. Denise Renye

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The devaluing and dismissing of women’s expertise ... this is all too common. This doesn’t happen only to women of course, but even dismissing the experience of expressions or values that may be considered more traditionally feminine and dismissing some homosexual men also is related to the denigration of all things not traditional straight and masculine.

A Raisin in the Sun playwright Lorraine Hansberry wrote in a letter, “I have suspected for a good while now that the homosexual in America would ultimately pay a price for the intellectual impoverishment of women … Men continue to misinterpret the second-rate status of women as implying a privileged status for themselves,” (Carter 7). 

Hansberry, herself a lesbian, goes on to say, “The relationship of anti-homosexual sentiment to the oppression of women has a deep and special implication. That is to say, that it must be clear that the reason for the double standard of social valuation is rooted in the societal contempt for the estate of womanhood in the first place.” 

She wrote those words decades ago but the sentiment is just as true now as it was then. Look no further than supposedly respected writer Joseph Epstein’s opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal to see blatant and fully embraced contempt for women. In the opening paragraph of his piece, he wrote:  

“‘Dr. Jill Biden’ sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic. Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students’ Needs. A wise man once said that no one should call himself “Dr.” unless he has delivered a child. Think about it, Dr. Jill, and forthwith drop the doc.”

No, this is not a satirical piece written for the Onion highlighting how society, white male society, used to think about and unabashedly regard well-educated women. 

First of all, Dr. Biden actually did deliver multiple children. Miraculously, she delivered these children right out of her own body. She made people! This is something Epstein will never ever be able to accomplish. Secondly, I know firsthand how much internal and external resource goes into committing to and earning a doctorate degree. It takes an intense amount of dedication of energy, time, money, creativity, and intelligence to do something only a small percentage of people do. There is privilege in this, yes, and I acknowledge that. But it’s still an achievement worthy of being recognized in the person’s title if they choose. 

Why did Epstein make this absurd and ungrounded suggestion that Dr. Biden drop her actual title? I can only speculate but it points to a toxicity that has been present since before women started higher education. When women rightly fought to be in higher education, there just became more visible recipients for this projected bile. Anya Jabour writes in the Washington Post about two pioneering female PhDs, Sophonisba Breckinridge and Edith Abbott, who faced immense sexism during their careers. Breckinridge was the first woman to earn her PhD in political science at the University of Chicago in 1901. Abbott, her partner, earned a PhD in economics in 1905.

Despite their qualifications, Breckinridge could only find part-time work as an instructor in the Department of Household Administration. Abbott could only find part-time work teaching statistics at the University of Chicago.

They struggled for years to gain recognition and it frequently occurred that both women were referred to as “Miss” while their male counterparts were referred to as “Professor” or “Doctor.” 

Jabour writes, “Denying women titles demeaned their expertise and diminished their authority. Discrediting female professionals also devalued female-dominated fields of endeavor. Breckinridge knew that women had to claim their titles to announce their qualifications and establish the importance of their work. And they still do, explaining the fury over Epstein’s piece and why it was so problematic.”

If women are second-rate citizens, their chosen professions as well as their qualifications will also be considered second rate. In a society saturated with patriarchal trauma wounding, men will always be deemed superior in every sphere expect “feminine” pursuits. Little does Epstein realize that everyone loses when one group is superior and another inferior. Maybe if he had a doctorate of education like Dr. Jill Biden, he’d know that. 

 

References

Carter, Steven R. Hansberry’s Drama: Commitment Amid Complexity. Chicago: University of Illinois, 1990. 

 Epstein, Joseph. “Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.” Wall Street Journal, December 11, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-there-a-doctor-in-the-white-house-not-if-you-need-an-m-d-11607727380

Jabour, Anya. “Referring to female PhDs as ‘Dr.’ promotes equal treatment and values women’s work.” Washington Post, December 15, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/12/15/calling-female-phds-dr-promotes-equal-treatment-values-womens-work/?fbclid=IwAR0EzrfFnwN8T4fXldoa9012_7kVOxBnoB_TzCu3Tqjb2A6pEZmp8-ARr5Q