“Failure to acknowledge a woman’s hard-earned professional title while men are awarded theirs, even when unintentional, has profound implications and reinforces the perception of women having lower status”

Failure to acknowledge a woman’s hard-earned professional title while men are awarded theirs, even when unintentional, has profound implications and reinforces the perception of women having lower status. This “de-professionalizing” serves to activate stereotype threat and internalized sexism at a time when a woman needs to be at peak performance, whether she’s speaking, teaching or caring for patients. Since learners and patients witness this, it’s a very powerful lesson to them as well.

Julia A Files MD, Anita P. Mayer MD, and Sharonne N. Hayes MD, “When Doctors Are Not Called ‘Dr.’: How Forms of Address Reveal Gender Bias”, GenderAvenger (17 March 2017) [https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/forms-address-gender-bias]