A mother has sparked a debate about whether women need formal titles such as Miss, Mrs and Ms.
Taking to the British parenting platform Mumsnet, the woman explained she was asked what title she goes by while buying a lamp in a store, and thought it was ridiculous because ‘it’s not information the shop needs.’
She questioned whether it was outdated to identify women by their marital status and said she wondered if the whole thing could just be ‘scrapped.’
Many people agreed with the anonymous poster, with some claiming it is just ‘patriarchal nonsense’.
However some claimed we should keep the titles for situations where you need to formally address people.
A British mother has sparked a debate about whether women need personal titles such as Miss, Mrs and Ms (stock image)
The woman explained: ‘I was ordering something in a shop the other day and the assistant, in her 20s, was putting my details into their system.
‘She said, I hate asking this, I find it so embarrassing but are you Miss, Ms or Mrs? I replied, “I’m Miss”.
‘I was there with my daughter so in that one exchange I’d divulged I was a single, unmarried parent.
‘It’s not information the shop needs for me to order a lamp. And if I was a man, they’d be Mr and none the wiser as to marital status. I know I could say Ms but does any married woman really use Ms?
‘So Ms just ends up sounding like a Miss with issues. It got me thinking why do we need personal titles, how often are they really used anyway?
‘Can they not just be scrapped from form filling? With the increasing desire by the younger generation to not even be defined by gender, identifying women by their marital status feels so outdated.
‘It’s International Women’s Day tomorrow and in the spirit of embracing equity, isn’t it time we abolished women being defined by marital status?’
Some people agreed with the poster and thought the titles were outdated and should be scrapped.
Taking to the parenting platform, the woman explained she was asked what title she goes by while buying a lamp in a store and thought it was ridiculous as ‘it’s not information the shop needs’
One person wrote: ‘I didn’t take my ex-husband’s name when we got married and remained a Miss. So Miss doesn’t always mean single or unmarried.
‘I think we should do away with it too though along with the expectation a woman takes her husband’s name on marriage. Patriarchal nonsense.’
Another wrote: ‘Agree, it’s utterly pointless. I did not start using Mrs when I got married. I don’t think a woman’s marital status should have anything to do with her title.
‘If someone desperately wants others to know they are married I’m sure there’s plenty of other ways they could do it.’
While someone else said: ‘Why does someone selling you a lamp need to even know whether you are male or female?
‘I always try to leave it blank. If pressed, I use Dr, not because I am showing off but because it is no one else’s business whether I am male or female, married or unmarried.’
Some people agreed with the poster and thought the titles were outdated and should be scrapped
Others disagreed saying we should keep the titles as they are a formal way to address each other.
One person wrote: ‘But some people like Mrs? We need to keep them because we need to be able to address people formally in some circumstances. But Ms for women could be the default until someone is corrected.’
Another wrote: ‘Not abolish them altogether, but there are many circumstances where they are not needed such as that the OP describes and in those cases just name and surname should be asked for.’
While another said: ‘I’ll admit I haven’t read the full thread so not sure if it’s been raised – but from a retailers point of view, I have to phone multiple customers everyday to let them know that their ordered items have arrived in store.
‘Most people don’t fill in the Mr/Mrs etc section of the order form and only put a first initial for first name. It’s actually quite awkward phoning an S.Smith, M.Henry, A.Jones etc and knowing how to address them.
Meanwhile some users disagreed, saying we should keep the titles as they are a formal way to address other people
However some people claimed it’s not a good idea to get rid of the titles all together – and said maybe all women should go by Ms
‘Natural to me would be to say ‘Hello, Mr/Mrs Jones?’ but you can’t with nothing to go on lol.’
However some people claimed it’s not a good idea to get rid of the titles all together and maybe all women should go by Ms.
One person wrote: ‘It annoys me too but I don’t think the answer is to get rid of titles.
‘The answer is for ‘Ms’ to become the only option for women, like ‘Mr’ for men. For this to happen, more women like you need to adopt it and decide to use it.
‘I’m married and I use it unapologetically. I don’t think it makes people think I have ‘issues’.’
Another wrote: ‘I use Ms and I’m married. What are the issues? It’s a straightforward – marital status isn’t relevant.’
While another said: ‘I’ve been a Ms since my 20s, through marriage, divorce etc. Really don’t see the problem here.’
A fourth wrote: ‘I’m married and have always used Ms. I think of it as the female equivalent of Mr- it doesn’t indicate whether I’m married or not.’
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