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Use of 'Mademoiselle' banned on official French forms

The French Prime Minister's office has issued a decree outlawing use of the term 'Mademoiselle' on all official French forms. The decision marks a victory for feminists who have campaigned against the term as being discriminatory and demeaning to women.

French Ministers of State and Prefectures have been directed to ensure that the word "mademoiselle" and other phraseology deemed to be discriminatory such as "maiden name" and "spouse's name" are removed from all official French documents.

"Mademoiselle" is to be replaced by "madame", regarded as being the equivalent of "monsieur" for men. The equivalency of terms means that any official information in France will no longer implicitly define a woman's marital status.

The term 'maiden name' is to be replaced with "family name" whilst "spouse's name" is replaced with "name of usage" in a measure designed to take into account widows or divorcees.

The decree refers to previous circulars on French official use of the term having been issued but as one of the websites, Madameoumadame.fr, which campaigns to consign of official use of the term 'mademoiselle' to history points out, such circulars have been on the go for over 40 years!

The sole use of 'madame' will take time to implement. In these austere times, official stocks of stationery have to be used up but use of 'mademoiselle' will ultimately disappear from French bureaucratic life.

There were two major campaigns leading the charge to salutationary and valedictory equality, namely Madameoumadame and Osez le Feminisme. Both viewed the term 'mademoiselle' as sexist, deriving as it did from the words 'ma demoiselle', literally translating as 'my virgin lady'. As in English, there was no equivalent male term, all males simply being addressed as 'Monsieur'.

Both campaign websites refuted the suggestion that using 'mademoiselle' was really a term of flattery. Madameoumadame.fr highlighted that unmarried women in France wishing to be called 'Madame' often encountered difficulties with French officialdom and others, sometimes suffering innuendo about their private lives. They viewed use of the term 'mademoiselle' as condescending and a remnant of male machismo in French society.

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