I hate being called "nurse"!!!

[Flatlander]

This post makes me smile--the problem is familiar to me.

I'm a college professor with a PhD. When I am introduced, along with male colleagues, to a group of students, they invariably address the males as "Dr. So and So," while they address me as "Mrs. Tomlinson." This implies, of course, that it is expected that a man would have a PhD, but not a woman. In doing this, we also unconsciously elevate the relative authority of the man over the woman in the classroom.

For along time this made me angry. Recently, however, I decided to treat it as a teaching moment. I now start the first day of classes by introducing myself (I always did that before; the students just didn't "hear" the "Dr." part). Now, however, I go on to tell them about being addressed as Mrs while my male colleagues are more approprietly addressed. They are always shocked and dismayed to hear this (even though they would prob. do the same if I hadn't pointed it out ). Then I go on to further explain that this is a reflection of how we place genders in roles, even when we're aren't aware of it, and that by insisting that they address me as Dr. T--, I am implanting the idea in the female students' heads that yes, they, too, are capable of earning a PhD. Further, since this is not about "I've got a PhD so I'm more special than you," I tell them, once they graduate and we are no longer in a teacher/student relationship, they are free to address me as "Susan."

To me, this is not about "titles," nor is it about whether one profession more "special" than another. It is about what we expect from gender roles and relative authority/ability.