Think Your Credentials Are Ignored Because You're A Woman? It Could Be.
Dr. Tania Lombrozo reflects on her own experience of being referred to as Mrs., Miss or Ms., rather than her actual title, in light of a new paper studying the topic — with striking results, she says.
When I first became a professor I was 26. And female. (I'm no longer 26; still female.)
The combination made me anxious about whether students would take me seriously as an authority on the material I was trying to teach. I made a point of introducing myself as " Lombrozo," and I signed e-mails to students the same way — especially those addressed to Miss/Ms./Mrs. Lombrozo, or those that simply used my first name. I bought some collared shirts from Brooks Brothers; I made a more like people's mental image of a professor, I thought, maybe I'd be treated like one, too.
