Torah: Well, I want to be a doctor, so let’s say, hypothetically, that I know everything I need to know to set up shop, but since I didn’t go to med school, I can’t get my MD- even without the title, even though I can practice medicine as well as any doctor, I’m obviously limited in what I can do with my knowledge, as nobody wants to be healed by someone who’s not an MD (or RN or PA or whatever).
Perhaps to some, the title of rebbetzin signifies the kind of female rabbi indicated in benignuman’s post; for many, however, that does not seem to be the case.
(BTW: I have no interest in becoming a rabbi- as I already mentioned, I want to be a doctor. This isn’t so much devil’s advocate as trying to see both sides of the point. Besides, I can say that really, I don’t care about being a rabbi, who needs it, and all that stuff, but the fact remains that people DO care that they can’t be rabbis, including a couple people I know, and I think that that is a very valid feeling to have- whether halachically permissible is a COMPLETELY different story.)