Unwed ‘mesdames’

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33051, 19 October 1972, Page 8

Unwed ‘mesdames’

(tiZ.P.Aßeuter—Copyright) PARIS. France has officially buried the controversial Miss-or-Mrs issue. Any Frenchwoman over 21 may now choose for herself whether she is a madame or a mademoiselle, marriage licence or no.

The Minister of Justice (Mr Rene Pleven) —at 71, the oldest French Cabinet Minister, has Issued the official ruling: “No judicial obstacle standing in the way of the term ’madame’ being used in preference to ‘mademoiselle,’ there is no reason why this should not extend to persons expressing the desire, even if it comes from unmarried women without children.” The immediate reaction, in a country without a serious women’s liberation movement, has been surprisingly bitter, against “the male chauvinist pigs” who made the ruling. “Ridiculous, grotesque,” commented Miss Elaine Silvain, an unmarried secretary. “This kind of help I don’t need from the Government.” Miss Francoise Mercier, aged 35, a photo-retoucher

who is an officer of a single women’s club, said: “It’s a little gift of absolutely no importance. Thank God that things have evolved so that it is much less meaningful than it would have been some years back, And I know that the reaction of many women is that their independence has nothing to do with names like madame or madamoiselle. I think they’re a male invention.”

The question of a middleground term, like “Ms,” has never been posed in France, although some women have said that they were considering referring to themselves as “Me”—a compromise between the abbreviation “Mme” and “Mlle.”

“Madamoiselle” has always had an inferior ring in French, because Royalty was invariably called “madame,” regardless of age. The Justice Ministry’s decision arises from problems encountered by some unmarried mothers in using the term “madame” on legal documents.

The ruling reminds notaries and lawyers that unwed mothers have an absolute right to call themselves madame, and adds the line that the term can be used by any woman over 21 who wants to use it.