I gave all my classes this riddle this week - 3 kids got the answer.

surgeon a mechanic and a lawyer.

Again just an assumption,but i guess PP didn't think at first that there would be women too in those professions so was confused how Bob was identified straight away from 3 men present?

Y7 DD got it right away.
Y4 DS said the Dad was also a doctor, so I told him the Dad was unconscious so he immediately went with Mum, but then followed it up with "so isn't that a nurse". To be fair he did just think nurses and doctors were the same job.

I assume it's because Bob was the only man in the room?

Well yes- but what unconcious bias is being shown in arresting Bob?

I assume it's because Bob was the only man in the room?

Had you said the detective instantly arrested Bob I wouldn't have assumed the detective was a man.

I just asked my DS5 and I actually fist pumped the air when he said the Mum.

Unfortunately he then let me down when he went on to say...but girl Doctors are called Nurses

Safe to say he's just had a before bed chat about equality and feminism.

You will have to explain this one. Bob is a man's name. If only one of the surgeon, engineer and lawyer is a man the detective will arrest the man.

The detective might well be a woman but you have told us he is a man too.

I'm ashamed to say that we were asked a similar riddle on my access course but with a detective overhearing "no bob" and then a gun shot. in the room was a surgeon a mechanic and a lawyer but he instantly arrested bob. I did not get the answer despite being an avid feminist 😳
it just shows how deeply ingrained it is

Would the equivalent be...

A woman and her daughter rush to the GP clinic for a sexual health check (?). The nurse says "I can't treat her, she's my daughter."

As a PP said it's loading your thoughts before it starts by having both main "characters" as male. I'd also say with these kind of riddles you're programmed to look for a cryptic answer not an obvious one*

*saying this is a female working in a male dominated area of healthcare who automatically looked for a more complicated answer

bumpitybumpity image in my mind whilst reading that was of a female doctor saying they can't opperate. It's definitely a factor (for me at least). After visualising two males/females the next person of unspecified sex I imagine as the same sex as the previous two

My first reaction to Bumpity's re-write was it's a lesbian couple, not a father.

Bumpity bumper, you could also make it a dad and his daughter, so still the less obvious female doctor but I do think daughter = > mother is more logical than son => mother

This same example is also used for psychological influencing experiments. It's not unbiased in its asking. A man and his son. It's influencing gender in its description so although I get your point it is certainly not a neutral starting point to ask for a fair representation of answer.

@bumpitybumpity image in my mind whilst reading that was of a female doctor saying they can't opperate. It's definitely a factor (for me at least). After visualising two males/females the next person of unspecified sex I imagine as the same sex as the previous two.

The nature of the riddle is such that it encourages the assumption that the doctor is a man. I've had Wem doctors in my family since my grandmother's generation. I nearly became a doctor myself. This isn't a feminist issue. Merely a riddle.

Dsd14 didnt get it first time she said another dad so gay couple, ds16 said mum first or gay couple and ds18 and uni mates said lots of male relatives and adoption etc before mum and then questioned whether doctors can operate on family.
We are same sex couple so partly pleased they considered gay couple but still disappointed 2 out of 23 didn't say mum first.

We went to A&E the other week and DD (3yo) complained all the way home that the dr had not checked her. I think it was because it was a female Dr too much Dr Ranj maybe? I don't even know how she can have absorbed it at such a young age! All our GPs are women, they're the only other drs that she's seen.

*happy

I just asked dd (11) and DH. Dd said “has he got two dads ? “ and DH , rather bafflingly said “ oh , is it his granddad ?” .
I’m horrified !

Dd13 said isn't she allowed because she doesn't want to cut into her son. Hair with that.

Ds8 said, what, don't get it 😅

great clip, and lovely to see the fab Lucy Masoud in there

It is. I tried this riddle out on my son a while back and he did get it right.

DS1 just guessed at the two gay dads solution. I'm his mum and I have a fucking doctorate!!

DD(7) got it right straight away.

I've done something right.

My 7 year old daughter said "it's his mum"

A woman and her daughter are in a car accident and are rushed to hospital. When they arrive the doctor looks at the girl and exclaims 'I can't operate on her, she's my daughter!' How can this be?

I wonder if the riddle was written as the above, many people would guess that the doctor was the girl's father? That would be a way to test whether it's the language used that's driving the results I guess?