Very benign matter - preferred title

[MQv2]

Currently involved in a project which involves emailing a lot of people who I have not spoken with before.
Not cold calling.
Just wondering where it is evident that the recipient it female is the proper ettiqeute to use Mrs or Ms?
I know it's a small matter but I'd rather make sure that I'm not causing any annoyance.

I have no idea about "proper etiquette" but you surely can't assume women are "Mrs" without knowing whether they are married or not?

I would use Ms or their full name, unless I had something on which they had addressed themselves as mrs. Least likely to cause offence, I think

You won't be able to do it without offending someone. If you just put a name without a title, someone will be annoyed at the lack of title. If you put 'Mrs', the unmarried and those who are married but don't use their husband's name (and why should they) will be miffed. Others will thing 'Ms' is a horrible Americanism. You can't win. Roll some dice to decide.

NB English women (not sure about Welsh, Irish & Scots, though the latter had 'mistress' for quite a while I think) used to be Mrs once they hit about 25 or so, as Miss was a girls' title. I used to be Mrs + changed surname, following the old English custom being considerably over 25, after divorce, but got fed up with people thinking I'd remarried. So now I avoid titles or Ms if I absolutely must.

Ms is not horrible nor an Americanism

That's what I thought was the safer option, I just couldn't remember if I'd seen somewhere (perhaps on mumsnet) that Ms had connotations that a person was junior and that there was a more appropriate neutral title for work emails
(Miss maybe?)

But you've at least backed up my initial instinct so I'll stick with that
Thanks

Could you get away with just "hi" or "hello" and no name/title?

I don't think I've ever been emailed with Ms/Mrs, ever. Including many "cold caller" emails.

In my industry at least you'd just use a first name.

Ms is not horrible nor an Americanism

No but some people think it is, just like some think it's for divorced women, or some women are proud of being Miss/Mrs and hate being called Ms - I've seen all of those on threads here.

I really think your best bet is to use firstname lastname - I mean, do you even actually know if these people are women or men if you do, then why? Is it relevant? If it isn't then you probably shouldn't have that data at all. Or are you guessing based on first name? What if you have a name like 'Chris' or Jo?

As emails are generally less formal I would just go for Jane Smith.

I don't think I would be offended by the wrong title but would maybe be irritated. If I am handwriting and not sure of Ms or Mrs I just scrawl so it could be read either way.

If you really need a title, then Ms. Neither Miss or Mrs are generally applicable.

Yeah it's an odd situation where it's a fairly formal tone of the emails but I may not have many details of the person so first name probably not appropriate

I know it sounds odd
. Will stick with miss

Thanks for responses

You mean you'll stick with Ms don't you? Miss and Mrs would both be highly inappropriate unless told otherwise.

Those kinds of emails always come to me as Ms

I'd be ok with Ms (even tho I sometimes use Mrs and sometimes Dr)
I'm not crazy about miss, prefer Ms

Ms is the default if you don't know marital status. I don't think that will bother anyone, but Miss will.

English women used to be Mrs once they hit about 25 or so, as Miss was a girls' title.

Really? Old books and films have older characters with Miss as a title. I think there was an age association, but was it ever a fixed rule?

Don't stick with 'Miss' for heavens sake.

Unless you know the person. calls themself that, that is the one that is most Ely to cause offence.

You need to find out the correct form for each person (ie what they call themselves.

Or use the more neutral 'Ms' or avoid using anything at all.

Miss would really get many people’s backs up, as would mrs, they are redundant, inaccurate titles. I don’t really see why you won’t just use names? Only really ignorant people would think of ms as a horrible Americanism, (whatever that is) it has been used for hundreds of years.

Miss is the worst option!

Just address the email Dear First Name Surname.

If you really must use a title then Ms.

We used to have to write to people without knowing their titles, but the software system demanded a title to be used in the address line, so we went with Ms for all females (the data source we had for them provided their sex). This was predominantly older people. We did get a few informal complaints, but not too many.

Just address the email Dear First Name Surname.

That is what I would do. I have a not so common first name, where people are often not sure, whether it is a men's or women's name. So, every once in a while I get a letter to Mr soandso. I don't really care, but on balance, I think it is preferrable to avoid this type of 'misgendering' (which is ultimate prove that the sender has no idea who I am).

proof

I don't use those prefixes at all any more.

Just Dear First Name Surname.

if you don't have the names I am always tempted with Dear Madam/Sir

Agree that Ms is the most neutral choice if you have to use a title and you are sure the person is a female. I know Ms used to associated with being divorced but I think now is generally acceptable as a neutral title, similar to Mr for men.

Lots of people, me included, who are married but have kept their own surnames seem to use Ms too.

Hope you don’t get too many complaints for trying to do the right thing!

Oh - Dear Sir/Madam pretty good too...

the whole point of Ms is that it gives the same seniority as Mr, whereas Miss can seem less so.

Always Ms, if preferred title is unknown.