I got my PhD almost exactly 10 years ago. I have a permanent position as an academic at a reasonable research university. I have held some version of this position for the last 8.5 years. I am also a brown woman who is much shorter than average, and I don't wear makeup. At conferences, I go out of my way to talk to students to meet new faces, and also to help them build a network. All of this is just context for the rant that is incoming.
Over the last 10 years, in more or less every research event I go to, someone has asked me if I am a student. I proceed to explain that I am not. I have mostly no problem with the people who apologise at this point and move on.
But a majority of people double down at this point. With things like: "but you look so young" or "take it as a compliment" or "so... <dubious look> postdoc?" or "I thought you were a student of <slightly older white tall male collaborator>'s".
This needs to stop! It's not a compliment - they're implicitly disregarding 10 years' worth of my work. On one hand it tells me that they're placing me (in their mind) on the bottom rung of the academic ladder. On the other hand it also exposes their biases, which is a whole problem in itself.
I have definitely made incorrect assumptions about someone's "academic level" in the past, but over the years I have learned to know better.
So, PSA to everyone. Don't assume, ask. Or better yet, don't try to rank people from the outset. It will go a long way towards making events more inclusive.
