Master and Mistress

This section focuses on the connotations of the word ‘master’ and ‘mastery’ in comparison to the equivalent feminine term of ‘mistress’. When one uses any of the following terms, one would arguably think of a male being the person being referred to: master builder, master chief petty officer, master mariner, master of ceremonies, master race, master sergeant, master-at-arms. Though the dictionary definitions (Encarta, 1999) are gender neutral, the inclusion of this discussion is contiguous with the previous discussion highlighting the gendered nature of historical constructions of females and males.

The first definition in the dictionary listed for a master is:
a man in a position of authority, for example, over a business, servants, or an animal (Encarta, 1999). Compare this to the first definition listed in the dictionary for a mistress is: a woman with whom a man has a usually long-term extramarital sexual relationship and for whom he often provides financial support (Encarta, 1999). I have placed these definitions here as a base to argue that the word mastery is gendered, as it must stem from the word master, and that mastery is a masculine word (Morritt, 1997; Turkle, 1988).

Granted, the other definitions that are listed of mistress are as follows:
2. a woman who owns or controls something, for example, a woman owner of an estate, head of a household, or employer of servants
3. something that rules or controls, personified as a woman
4. a woman who is highly skilled in a particular activity (Encarta, 1999).
These definitions lend themselves towards the idea of a mistress also having authority and skill acquisition, but it does suggest that authority and expertise are not the dominant traits of a mistress.

In addition, no one has used the words mistress-ery or miss-ery to define women’s expertise.

In the nascent stage of universities, it was believed that women possessed a weak mind and therefore were not suited to academic pursuits (Johnson, 2004). Hence, one could argue that the development of the universal terms to describe undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, namely Bachelor and Master degrees, continue to reinforce the idea that academic achievement and consequent expertise is a masculine domain. The word bachelor is only used in the dictionary to define male men, knights, or seals (Encarta, 1999).

As mastery is defined as expert knowledge or outstanding ability (Encarta, 1999) and expertise is defined as the skill, knowledge, or opinion of somebody who is an expert (Encarta, 1999), I will seek to use the word expertise rather than the word mastery when discussing high levels of skill and competence and qualification.