Ita O’Kelly Ladies, using your ‘Dr’ title in a Twitter handle is not going to bring about equality

WOMEN on both sides of the Irish Sea have been set alight this week with notions that emancipation and authority will be automatically delivered alongside the academic title ‘Dr’. Wishful thinking, sadly. Those women who haven’t already achieved such academic distinction would appear, from social media postings at any rate, to be lusting after the apparently highly desirable title of ‘Dr’, a new frontier for women. It seems anything is preferable to the lowly title of Miss or Mrs. Who knew?

Their reasons for the pursuit of such in-depth knowledge of a particular field, in order to command that title, are nothing short of fascinating.

And they do not appear to overly focus on providing a new body of research for the common good.

Indeed it would be fair to say their reasons for pushing towards their goal of achieving a PhD are nothing short of worthy of a thesis in themselves. Want to have ‘Dr’ written in marker on your Starbucks skinny latte instead of a mere Jane or Fern? If so, read on.

When the ‘Boston Globe’ issued new guidelines on house style within the group, it set off a storm on Twitter. The ‘Globe’s’ decision was unremarkable, to me as a journalist at any rate. They do not plan to refer to those men or women who have doctorates with the title ‘Dr’ in future. The term will now be reserved for medical doctors only.

However, Fern Riddell, an English historian and author who has a PhD from King’s College in London but works in the entertainment field rather than academia, was furious.

“My title is Dr Fern Riddell, not Ms or Miss Riddell,” she tweeted. “I have it because I am an expert and my life and career consist of being that expert in as many different ways as possible. I worked hard to earned (sic) my authority and I will not give it up to anyone.”

Her thesis title is ‘Vice and Virtue: Pleasure, Morality and Sin in London’s Music Halls 1850-1939’.

Riddell claims “the demonisation of expertise” is only levelled at women – a questionable claim.

Twitter erupted with detractors as well as those who rushed to her defence. One man described her as immodest and the hashtag #ImmodestWomen was born.

Unfortunately many of the women – including very many here who endorsed her sentiments with gusto – appeared to get an erroneous impression from her post. The message was read, or perhaps was intended to read, that the only way a woman can obtain authority is via a PhD and the title of ‘Dr’. A PhD makes you an authority on your usually narrow field of study. No more, no less.

It does not give you authority in life, irrespective of gender.

There was an indignant rush to add ‘Dr’ to many female Twitter handles. Unfortunately their field of study – arguably the most interesting aspect – was not specified by most.

Some people use the academic title of ‘Dr’ at every opportunity, many don’t. However, some people might regard it as a little pretentious to use the title when ordering groceries online.

There seemed to be an impression that changing your Twitter handle to include ‘Dr’ amounts to taking a radical stand in the interests of equality for all women.

SUCH utter bilge and nonsense. A woman does not need a PhD to have authority. Fact.

And it raises the question of whether an academic title has any relevance outside of academia anyhow. Should it, for instance, be included on a store loyalty card or a passport application? Many of those newly radicalised academic doctors seem to think so. I’m not so sure.

Probably the most interesting comment was made by a woman who referenced being asked at an airport security desk “Miss or Mrs” by a male member of staff.

She said that nothing matched the satisfaction of being able to say: “Neither. It’s Dr.” She implied all the study was worth being able to put some poor schmuck – probably on the minimum wage – in his box. A pathetic admission, frankly. Now I thought we’d put this issue of Miss, Mrs or Ms to bed. Ms is the equivalent of Mr. It indicates gender but not marital status.

While I have great admiration for anyone who has the grit, determination and discipline to complete a doctorate, I would question the motivation of some younger PhD students.

Many have never operated outside the warm embrace of a university or done something as grubby as earn a living. There is no doubt many students today are pursuing academic qualifications because of what is known as ‘qualification elevation’ in the market place. This is a con in itself.

Where formerly a Leaving Certificate was enough, a degree is now called for. Today we have young people studying for Masters’ degrees for jobs and salaries that do not warrant such qualifications.

It is well known many women occupy lowly or indeed part-time positions in the mainly male power-pyramid that is academia.

That is an issue that needs to be tackled head-on by the women and the colleges together.

New Twitter handles won’t deliver results. Shouting from the roof tops and not taking no for an answer might.

What’s the point in a doctorate if you are earning peanuts?

The message was read that the only way a woman can obtain authority is via a PhD. Bilge and nonsense