Yes, she’s a doctor
Mana Lumumba-Kasongo wears her doctor’s coat, has her doctor’s name badge, introduces herself as a doctor, treats her patients… yet her patients refuse to believe she is a doctor because she is black and female. Damn. What would happen without the coat and badge? Too bad doctors don’t all wear giant, fluffy, blue chef’s hats, or bishop’s miters. Maybe then there would be no ignoring the symbol of status!
Seriously though– it seems that a more "egalitarian"-style social structure (everyone dresses in jeans, people call each other by their first names, not their titles, and so on) only benefits the white men. Anyone who doesn’t look like the "typical" doctor/lawyer/professor, etc. benefits more from a strict differentiation between roles based on outward markers like clothing, badges, and titles. It’s things like these that might keep the female postdocs from being mistaken for the administrative assistant. (Yes, this has happened to me. TWICE.)
Or mistaken for a graduate student…
Comment by Beth Montelone — April 26, 2006 @ 9:22 pm
I forgot to add that this happened to me as an assistant professor.
Comment by Beth Montelone — April 26, 2006 @ 9:24 pm
I like to ask, “why would you think I was the secretary?” in an innocent tone of voice and see what they come up with.
Comment by drshellie — April 27, 2006 @ 3:19 am