Gym thinks only men can be Drs

[DrElizabethPlimpton]

I've just seen a link to a Daily Fail article (I won't link obviously) about a gym in Cambridgeshire

A paediatrician joined and she found that her electronic key wouldn't allow her access to the female changing room. The 'glitch' was explained by staff - apparently her title Dr automatically defaulted to the assumption she was male.
I'm currently speechless.

True.

And to derail even further on the same lines, some of those names indicate that children were taking their names from their mothers. Names like Brewster have feminine endings, so they must once have referred to a woman who was a Brewer, not a man.

This is one of many reasons why the 'oh, it's just technology not keeping up with modern conventions' line of thought doesn't hold up.

Or sloppy data entry on the part of the gym staff (who then blamed it on "computer says no")

Yes, I can see someone with an application form in one hand for Dr Whatever, computer mouse in the other, automatically clicking "male" in the sex field.

But if it was just a data entry issue, they would have apologised and explained. It wasn't.

I would just like to make it clear that I will not be answering to anyone who calls me Emma UnixSystemsAdministrator.

I can see someone with a data entry form in one hand

Who 95% of the the time never has to bother with the male/female box, because it is default flled because the title was already Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms

Forget to bother to pay attention to the gender box, because it is already filled.

They SHOULD have paid attenton, but it's understandable why they didn't.

Making it the surname isn't much better for me than making it the title - now I'm Fat UnemployedPerson.

It's understandable that it's happened in the first place, through human error (given I have screwed up some departmental statistics for similar reasons this week, but the world has not ended, so it's not that big a deal.)

It's not understandable if they refuse to fix it once it's been pointed out.

That's still a sexist piece of software design - setting a default rather than leaving it empty when the title does not indicate gender is sloppy design.

Absolutely. They shouldn't have title as a compulsory field at all. I can understand in this case that knowing someone's sex is pertinent (but in many other cases it's not,) But they could have a separate field as M/F/other/prefer not to say.

Obviously anything other than M or F would probably not open any changing room doors at all.

Of course if it were bespoke software you could just have a field for which changing room they use.

My gym doesn't even have a changing room. You can change in the (one, unisex, accessible) toilet with a shower in it.

I don't think sex should be pertinent, either.

On an ideal level, women shouldn't feel they need a separate changing room in case men make them feel scared (which is, I think, the big reason).

And on a practical level, it is better to have lockable, individual unisex changing.

Pomeral our bank did the same (wonder if the same bank?) - DP got his own statement and another identical addressed to both. Infuriating. switching to paperless solved the problem, but still irritating nonetheless

I use my title because I can't get my head around the Miss/Ms/Mrs thing but when I opened my first bank account (with RBS) in the UK I was told I couldn't have my title on the debit card because I'm not a medical doctor.

I don't mind being Alex Translator-Linguist if I can be Dr Alex.

To the gym: buy some normal locks and keys. Not everything needs to be hi-tech. Ludicrous lack of forward thinking.

If I had worked for the gym I would never have admitted what had caused the problem. I'd have said "I'm sorry, there's a computer problem. Here, take this other code key for the time being and we'll sort it out"

I have and use the title of Dr since getting my PhD. I use it partly because I am entitled to, but also because I prefer to use a title that signifies something I worked hard to achieve something, rather that a title that specifies my marital status. I've kept my surname since getting married and I like that my title and name have stayed the same.

The database issue is quite common...

Once I was buying a car and the finance was refused. We worked out that it was because the system was changing me to a male as a result of my title, and then finance was refused because of "inconsistencies" in my application. The poor guy selling me the car was mortified and got straight on the phone to their IT services to express his horror and rage.

Another example is a well known travel company that will allow you to book using the title of Dr, but your boarding pass always becomes Mr. Luckily it hasn't caused me any issues when travelling yet!!!

Kim I have to disagree with your ideal conversation. This is because the gym is a business, and if any business told me that I would be extremely unimpressed and may be looking around for a different gym.

I maintain that the best way to deal with it would have been a swift apology, a promise to look into and rectify the matter and the immediate issue of a key code that would access the right changing rooms. There was no need to risk insulting a customer with the explanation of exactly why it wasn't working.

Tell you what, why don't we change your title to Miss / Mrs and that would work.

How is that an ideal conversation when you choose to use your Dr title? And why not Ms, if you absolutely must temporarily change it? I think I would be looking for a new gym provider, and contacting their head office to know why - the initial problem and then the patronising way it was dealt with.

I hope you don't have to work with customers in your line of work, kim.

That "ideal" conversation is the type of patronising crap most women would expect. It very much "let's get you back in your box missy and maybe one day we'll get around to treating you like a fully fledged adult".

Same old, same old.

I think your example is completely different km147 as changing sex is a specific and unusual circumstance. Women being doctors is not and it is pretty shocking in 2015 that programmers use such lazy gender assumptions.