south africa

life, etc france
no more
‘mademoiselle’, say
french feminists
Last week feminist groups in France
rolled out a proposal to drop the term
"Mademoiselle" (Miss) for unmarried
women. They say the label is sexist,
outdated and condescending. By
REBECCA DAVIS.
Photo: Feminists of La Meute group take part in
a demonstration in front of the Galeries Lafayette
department store in Paris. February 9, 2002
REUTERS
If you are a woman in France, there are
two options for your honorific: “Madame”
and “Mademoiselle”. The former denotes
the fact that you are married, and the
second indicates that you are single, and
probably young. There is only one option
for men: “Monsieur” (as in Mister), which
gives nothing away about either your
age or your marital status. French feminists
say “Mademoiselle” is demeaning
and unnecessary and want it scrapped in
favour of using “Madame” generically for
all women in the way “Monsieur” serves
all men.
France is almost 40 years behind Germany in this debate.
German used to favour the term “Fraulein” (literally
"little woman"). But in 1972 the German ministry of
the interior banned its use, and nowadays “Frau” is used
uniformly to address women. In English we tread an
awkward middle-ground via the use of “Ms”, which has
actually been around since the 17th century as an abbreviation
of "Mistress", but fell out of use till the 20th century,
with the US Government Printing Office approving
its use in government documents in 1972. The success
of “Ms” is questionable, because though its use is more
widespread these days, it is most frequently employed in
situations where people are unsure whether a woman is
married or not – far from the point feminists were making
when they pushed for its adoption.
It is suggested the reason why French feminists are
taking up the “Mademoiselle” cause now is as a result of
the Dominique Strauss-Kahn rape cases, responses to
which have illustrated some of the problematic attitudes
French women face in their country.
read more:
1. French Feminists Say 'Non' To 'Mademoiselle', on NPR
tuesday - 4 october 2011