Mrs, Ms or Miss: why do forms require women reveal their marital status and not men?

[Ludlow2]

That's it really.

Why do women have to reveal this and not men?
Isn't it time we changed this.

It's the patriarchy.

Ms can be used in place or Mrs or Miss and should be used for an adult female whose marital status is unknown.

Some women are very much in favour of holding onto the titles.

I use 'Ms' and suggested on another thread that all women should just start doing this. I was completely shot down by people who like being 'Mrs'. So, it's a tricky one.

Yes it is time it was changed but I generally just use Ms.

You can choose your title. They are asking which title you have chosen

Men can't do that

Did this problem not get solved 40 years ago with the introduction of Ms?

Maybe the answer is to introduce more titles for Men. Some men might like to show off they are Married or Single.

Yeah they like it because of the patriarchal system ingrained in them and society.

I agree, everyone should be Ms.

Because they employee someone just to sit there and work out ways to annoy women

Because people still use titles, so they are there. There is an option for somebody that doesn’t want to reveal marital status.

Yes, we should just call everyone it. It Smith, It Jones, It Evergreen
That way, those who don't like 'patriarchy ' will feel they've got one up on the men, those who claim they have no gender, and those who are short of something to moan about, will have to find something else to grind their gears
Meanwhile, those of us with more relevant things to worry about will do so

More relevant things to worry about than the perpetuation of a completely outdated patriarchy?

That has an impact on the life of every woman - I feel like it's pretty relevant.

Even the Men

I too want to remove choices from women

I think this is an issue far beyond titles.

It's why I'm doing a doctorate. So I don't have that issue any more!

I’ve been Ms for nearly a decade and I work in schools.

i get called Mrs whenever I meet anyone new in school and I hate it. I always correct people.

Students of all ages always ask why I’m Ms and many of them have never even heard of it. They usually also ask me if I’m married. I explain that the point of Ms is to not tell people if I’m married or not because it’s nobody’s business.

Even adults ask me occasionally.

So 40 years has not changed much! It hasn’t caught on as much as it should.

They ask on forms so they know what to call you. A lot of people get really pissy if you get their title wrong.

But 'Ms' doesn't reveal your marital status... you literally have an option right there.

I hate it when it's a mandatory field. The other day i even used a site where the only options were Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms and Lord!

Where I can, I always choose something different. So sometimes I'll be Lady, sometimes I'll be Professor, sometimes Reverend. If they're forcing me to choose and it's not something where my name matters much, then I'll choose whatever the damn I like.

I think it's because the women in the household probably do most of the shopping - food/ children's clothing/ furniture etc So knowing someone is a Mrs is useful for targeting advertising.
You aren't going to waste money targeting men for economy food offers or children's shoes - I get that some men do the shopping decisions but they are in the minority and that some women don't have children, however it's for financial profit from advertising.

I hate ms and have refused to fill in forms with just that. Maybe shouldn't have anything just your name

I was thinking about this yesterday when filling out a form. Sometimes it even reverts back and auto fills my maiden name so I just leave it at that ! I never knew Ms was someone who just didn't want to say if they were married or not.

Nowadays people use first names much of the time and don't write to you so don't need to use the title.

One school I worked in, on the daily cover sheet the men were Brian Smith, Peter Jones etc. Women were Mrs. J White, Miss T Brown. Annoyed me every day.

We don’t need to change it, you can just call yourself whatever you like, and that’s why it doesn’t actually reveal your marital status.