My friend Karen is a chiropractor whose terrific daughter, Adrienne, just graduated from West Point. The graduation festivities lasted for a full week and the commencement speaker was Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The week included a formal ball on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Graduates were encouraged to invite their parents, so Karen got all dolled up in a full-length gown and went to the ball. (Getting her dressed and out the door of our Brooklyn apartment building was reminiscent of the Cinderella story, but without the pumpkin coach.)
At the event, the mother of each graduate was given a long-stemmed red rose when she picked up her name card. Every mother except Karen, that is. Both she and Adrienne were mystified as to why Karen had been overlooked. Finally Adrienne figured it out. “I’ve got it, mom! Your nametag says Dr. Thomas, so they assumed you were a man.”
-- Bonnie McEwan
this is too sad.
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Jun 10, 2009
West Point IS after all one of the last great bastions of old-boy-network. And while they are proud of female friends and family who have a Dr. designation, I think it will be a while before they stop making these assumptions. I worked at the National Defense University, and it is definitely part of the culture - for women and men both.