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38 ¦ DECEMBER 28, 2020 EXPERT OPINION

Why Women Are All Riled Up About
Jill Biden

By Vivia Chen

My friends are upset that I’m not more upset
about that Wall Street Journal opinion
piece about Jill Biden. One female law-
yer text me: “You’ve got to dig up things about this
joker and make sure he never works again!”
Obscure until now, Joseph Epstein is now the
newly designated poster boy (if an 84-year old
qualifies as “boy”) of misogyny. He urged the
future first lady to drop “Dr.” before her name,
writing in the Journal: “‘Dr. Jill Biden’ sounds and
feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic. Your
degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of educa-
tion, earned at the University of Delaware through
a dissertation with the unpromising title ‘Student
Retention at the Community College Level: Meet-
ing Students’ Needs.’” Jill Biden (Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg)

Oh, lordy, I’m not sure I want to tackle this mess, even though I have a degree that says “Doctor
but here it goes: First, it’s obvious that Epstein’s of Jurisprudence,” or be identified as “Esquire,”
tone is condescending, snarky and obnoxious. any more than I would add HRH after my name.
However, as someone whose stock-in-trade is Aren’t all honorifics a relic of classism, a type of
writing columns that push people’s buttons, I have royalty worship? (For the record, I did not swoon
a strong stomach for offense. over episodes of “The Crown.”)
Let’s talk, then, about the substance of Epstein’s Epstein could have targeted a man for the same
argument. His main thesis is that the title “Dr.” reason—say Kamala Harris’ husband, Douglas
be limited to medical doctors, and that anyone Emhoff, if he called himself a “Dr.” for a nonmedi-
else who uses the term is somehow appropriat- cal degree. But here’s where the sexism comes
ing it. “In contemporary universities, in the social into play: The reality is that women earn the vast
sciences and humanities, calling oneself Dr. is majority of doctorates in education. (According
thought bush league,” he writes. to CGS/GRE Graduate Enrollment & Degrees:
So here’s the issue: Is Epstein articulating a valid 2007-2017 report, women earned 68.8% of doc-
argument about the (mis)use of “Dr.” in our soci- toral degrees in education, while men earned over
ety? Or is he pushing a sexist, elitist message? The 70% in engineering, math and computer science.)
short answer: Yes and yes. So yes, an attack on Biden’s degree, especially
I know Biden has a perfect right to insist on that gratuitous dig at her “unpromising” the-
the “Dr.” appellation, but I’ve always found it a sis topic, feels like an attack on women’s careers,
bit ridiculous to append a title of any sort to one’s particularly those in female-dominated fields like
name. I wouldn’t dream of calling myself “Dr.” teaching, health care or social work. And if there’s

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