Female Science Professor has posted some useful answers to those awful questions and comments an academic woman easily gets. My favorite response is to the question, “So they had to hire a woman…?” Of the answers offered, this one gets my vote:
Answer 3: Yes, they finally realized they had hired enough mediocre men.
Some of the questions assume you are in a heterosexual relationship. No one will be surprised, I expect, that we/I’ve used these:
Question (said to male person): Who takes care of your kids when your wife travels?
Answer: The cats.
Question (said to married/partnered female person): Who takes care of your kids when you travel?
Answer: The cats.Question (said to academic couple): Which of you is the trailing spouse?
Answer: Our cat.
Enjoy!
Feminist Philosophers 
I failed to edit this post on my iPhone, and so I’m going to put in comments an important – possibly – explanation. The answers are snark. I don’t recommend cats as caretakers AND I don’t think all the men in phil are mediocre. What the answer catches, I think, is that we need to question a common belief that hiring committes have an unerring ability to discern true merit.
I like “No, but they did anyway. Why do you suppose they did that?” to the first question.
Thanks!