Speaking as a 50-something year old man whose mother finished her career in medicine and the very pointy end of politics, when I first heard this joke in the 1980s it stumped me and made me feel really stupid. But my 1970s kindergarten class mates who told me “your mum can’t be a doctor, she has to be a nurse” were clearly seriously misinformed then. I believe that things are somewhat better now but not as good as they should be …