This just in...Women are doctors, too

A troubling occurrence in class earlier this week made me confront an ugly reality that I have seen around campus, not just as a graduate student, but also during my undergrad days. It seems that regardless of equality based on degree level and experience, women Ph.D. holders are just not given the same level of respect from their students, and even worse, at times not even from their peers. Imagine how troubling this is to me, when my near future includes a doctoral pursuit for myself!

In class with a student and professor, both of whom I am familiar with, I was astounded when a minor disagreement about a point of the student’s presentation turned into an attack of arrogance on the part of the student. The student argued with the professor very rudely and tactlessly, almost as if she was having the dispute with a pal. After the presentation, the student then decided to announce to class how right she was all along with an air of indignant self-righteousness and a complete lack of consideration for the professor.

Now, I have seen this same student in a similar situation in a different class, the only difference was that the professor there was a male. In that instance, the student did not talk back, she did not aggressively attack the professor, rather she respected his position and let it go. Later, she handled it with him in private, exactly what she should have done with the female professor.

That just really pisses me off, why did she feel she could handle such a similar situation differently when the only thing that changed was the gender of the professor?

And, on a more general note, citing those two professors as examples once again, I have NEVER heard the male professor referred to by his first name, but Dr. is left off of addressing the female professor 99 percent of the time.

This bothers me at a very core level. Ph.D. is Ph.D. the gender behind the degree shouldn’t matter! The bottom line is individuals who manage to hack a Ph.D. program and successfully gain tenure, should be given the respect they deserve in EVERY instance.