Jill Biden hit back at trolls who mocked her doctorate of education and her title of ‘doctor’ as she took aim at the Wall Street Journal opinion piece in which she was called kiddo.
In an interview with Stephen Colbert of The Late Show, the 69-year-old appeared alongside her president-elect husband Joe Biden to defend her title and one of her greatest achievements.
The debate surrounding Dr Biden’s doctorate started earlier this week when Joseph Epstein of the WSJ published an opinion piece in which he referred to the incoming first lady as a “kiddo” and suggested she “should think about dropping the honorific, which feels fraudulent, even comic”.point 568 | 1
After the article titled ‘Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.’ went viral, some people called it condescending and sexist, whereas others agreed that Jill Biden should drop the Dr title because she is not a medical doctor but a doctor of education.
In an interview with Colbert, the 69-year-old addressed the criticism and admitted it caught her by surprise. She also went on to claim that she was “most proud” of her doctorate of education, Ed.D.
“You once said in your memoir the role I have always felt most at home in is Dr Biden. Some people have recently taken it upon themselves to question that title. Do you have any reaction?” the host asked the incoming first lady.
“Yeah, that was such a surprise. And it was really the tone of it that I think – you know he called me kiddo,” she responded. “One of the things I’m most proud of is my doctorate. I mean I worked so hard for it.”
Rushing to his wife’s aid was also Joe Biden who added:
“I got to hand her her doctorate on the stage University of Delaware, she had two master’s degrees, she kept going to school all the time while teaching at night, and then what happened was I said Jill why don’t you get a doctorate and make us some real money. She gets the doctorate and gets a $2,000 raise.”
Following the controversial WSJ opinion piece, many have expressed their support for Dr. Biden. Among them was also former First Lady Michelle Obama who wrote:
“For eight years, I saw Dr. Jill Biden do what a lot of professional women do – successfully manage more than one responsibility at a time, from her teaching duties to her official obligations in the White House to her roles as a mother, wife, and friend.
“And right now, we’re all seeing what also happens to so many professional women, whether their titles are Dr., Ms., Mrs., or even First Lady: All too often, our accomplishments are met with skepticism, even derision. After decades of work, we’re forced to prove ourselves all over again.”
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Replaced!