The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Actually, it’s Dr., not Mrs.
As a woman who earned her doctoral degree in Education Administration, I wasn’t surprised to read Joseph Epstein’s opinion piece about Jill Biden, published by the Wall Street Journal.
The fact that some people don’t understand that a doctorate is equal to a medical degree is lamentable, but not particularly newsworthy. The Journal chose to publish it because it expressed a view they thought their readers might consider interesting — as is their right.
What made the article the focus of my attention though, was the Journal’s defense of the article.
Had they stood by their own policy of publishing pieces that they think might be of interest to their subscribers, I might not like it very much but defend their right to publish opinions and face the consequences.
That’s what a free press is all about. Controversy fires thought. And sells papers.
However, when in a separate editorial, editor Paul Gigot took offense at the reactions of his editorial peers, postulated Northwestern University’s decision to remove Epstein from their website was part of a larger “cancel culture,” and claimed the Biden team’s response was using it as “a chance to use the big guns of identity politics to send a message to politics as it prepares to take office” — I took issue.
It’s one thing to neutrally publish an offensive opinion. It’s another to defend it.
This isn’t about identity politics, or the president taking office.
It’s about female identity.
The fact that a man with a bachelor’s degree feels comfortable disparaging a woman with a doctorate is an indication of just how far we still have to go.
But we, women, already knew that.
What we have not realized is the extent that men in positions of literary power are willing to go to hold the line
Instead of letting the chips, or words, fall where they may, the Journal’s editor has taken a giant step backward for equity and a stance against women.
I would like to imagine they are hearing the “cancel my subscription” links being clicked. But I suspect their readership is largely male and white.
I would like to think every man with a doctorate is appalled that his own degree is being trashed, and outraged by his female colleagues. But I suspect not. Privilege allows that momentary ire to pass quickly.
And I would like to wish every medical doctor might have time to speak loudly in defense of the lab researchers in the field. But they are too busy fighting a pandemic because no one believed in science, let alone a researcher with a “mere” doctorate in microbiology.
What I do know is this. Every woman that holds an advanced degree earned it. And deserves to be called “Doctor.”
But writing a dissertation after work, typing with a toddler on her lap, while dinner is waiting, and Christmas gifts still need to be bought, isn’t the reason. The reason is, a doctor of any kind earns this small reward — and most especially a doctorate of education.
Workers in every other profession out there are inspired by an experience that inspired, encouraged and influenced their thinking.
It’s only because we have women (and men) who research how to perfect learning, improve education systems, or now, even keep kids learning while coping with a global pandemic, that we have doctors of any kind.
Or for that matter, journalists.
So let the op-eds flourish. But stop the defense of what many of us consider reprehensible. Be willing to face the consequences and judgment of your literary peers without blaming politics.
You can’t have it both ways.
If you have trouble understanding, perhaps Dr. Biden will teach you why.
