🩺Qualified to Treat, Still Fighting to Be Seen: Doctor by Degree. Invisible by Patriarchy

Hi guys as you all know I'm working as veterinary doctor in small village of Himachal Pradesh since 3 years and what irritated me must is the mentality of these rural people and villagers..Earlier it affected me alot when I started my job..it was all rosie until patient owners started coming to me..They called me beta, madam, didi and sometimes even worse - just nothing, they directly start telling their problems without showing respect. But thing that remained constant is that they never called me doctor (except just 5% of whole population). Not because they don’t know. But because they choose not to. They know very well who I am, what I do, and how many of their animals I’ve healed, how many late-night emergencies I’ve taken calls for but somehow the word doctor never reaches their lips when it was meant for me.

There mindset is so crooked that they can only relate power and knowledge with either age, gender or preferably both. 

I being young women that also doctor in her 30s still people asked me most weird questions like:-

“Doctor kahan hai?”

"Bus aap hi ho yaha??"

“Wo nahi aaye aaj?? (My juniors, because they are men)

Actually list is very long....

At every step of my job I had been questioned, doubted, second-guessed not because of my skills, but because of my gender and age.

It doesn't matters to them that I am wearing a stethoscope around my neck, treating the sick, handling emergencies, managing patients with limited resources and balancing emotions no one trained me for… 

Many people may call it ego but it's about my identity.. I haven't studied in veterinary colleges for 10 years with 3 degrees in hand including sleepless nights, lab works, clinical duties, pathology labs, emergency postings and rural duties to be called didi while someone else gets the title I earned just because they’re male, local and older.  My male colleagues, pharmacists, or even support staff are greeted as Doctor Sahib while for them I remain invisible. My power is being clouded by my youth, my gender, and the fact that I dared to step into a male-dominated space without asking their permission.

Countless times I had been judged for not showing up alone at night to remote homes or for not waking up at 6 a.m. on Sundays to answer non-urgent calls. I’ve been labeled as bad doctor simply for prioritizing my safety and sanity. But I know I’m not wrong. I’m just a woman navigating a system that was never built with the thought of us in mind.

But it is clear cut true that whatever you do in villages, being a young female doctor is not enough to be taken seriously. They don't care what you studied, how you studied and what you are...

I don't know where the actual problem lies is that lack of education or deep roots of patriarchy, where respect is still gendered, and titles are tied to how you look, not what you’ve learned?

Problem doesn't stop in veterinary hospital only on roads it's different type of show. Even when I'm walking alone they look away. I pass by people whose animals I’ve treated, helped and listened to their pain but they don’t even nod like I don’t exist. As if my presence in their lives is never worthy of respect or belonging. I know I’m an outsider in their village, but that doesn’t erase the work I’ve done, the respectable position I hold or the care I’ve given. I am still a doctor.

One more problem I see is the ego of these so called patriarchal men, the ones who watch with eagle eyes, ready to question, judge, and gossip. They don’t just see me, they observe, looking for cracks, ready to say, “She thinks she knows everything,” the moment I assert my medical opinion they  are always ready to teach me what the actual problem can be. Because my confidence looks like arrogance to them. My leadership feels like a threat. It hurts their male ego to see a young woman hold knowledge, authority, and independence without needing their validation. They can’t digest it. So they try to diminish it. They won't raise their voice in my defense, but they'll lower it to whisper behind my back.

If I tell you honestly after facing all this for years now these things doesn't affects me and doesn’t break me anymore. Even after all this I show up every day with same enthusiasm, patience and resilience because my fight isn’t just with disease but it’s with a mindset of people that can't be changed. I had stopped asking for applause but I ask for fairness. A name. A recognition that reflects the work I do. I think respect is not something we should have to fight for it should come with the role, the responsibility and the humanity.

Recently I am not worried for my title or respect they are giving me but what worries me is that what they’re teaching their children by treating me this way.

They’re teaching that a woman’s qualifications don’t matter unless they fit into their comfort zone. That a girl who posts selfies as an influencer or does a general local degree is more “acceptable” than a woman doctor who dares to diagnose with authority, lead in emergencies, speak up against wrong treatments, and does a highest paying respectable job in the society.” The irony is painful—the real achievers are dismissed, while the familiar gets glorified.

That is the reason that so many girls still end up as housewives, not because they can’t do more, but because the world around them has already decided what they should be. Their dreams are shaped by what society applauds—and right now, it still applauds the wrong things.

So no, I’m not just asking for the title but I want to change your mindset because every time you choose not to call me Doctor, you’re not questioning my degree you’re showinh your character and environment you are raised in. Your fragile perspective towards someone and what is more worse that you’re teaching your daughters to shrink, when they were meant to lead.

Respect isn’t optional. And recognition isn’t a favor.

What you choose to ignore today, your children will carry forward tomorrow.

In the end let's question together this society and bring change among us

💡Why is a woman in a white coat still not seen as a doctor in some eyes?

💡Why is her gender enough to demote her authority, even after a medical degree

💡If you can’t respect a woman doctor today, what are you teaching your daughters to expect tomorrow?

💡When will knowledge matter more than patriarchy?

💡How long will we keep raising sons who flinch at a woman in power?

💡Why is it easier to call a man ‘doctor’ without a degree, but hard to call a woman with one the same?

Ok guys I think I talked alot and may be somewhere somehow it being little change in society..

Till then take care

Your friendly Vet❤️❤️

© Dreamingvet 

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