"Mademoiselle" to disappear from French government documents

Feb 22, 2012, 16:50 GMT

Paris - In a victory for feminists, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has said that the word 'mademoiselle' would no longer be used in government documents, according to a government spokeswoman on Wednesday.

'Madame or mademoiselle?' is a loaded question in France, where it is used both by men trying to establish a woman's 'availability' and by government departments, banks, and private companies who still force women to categorize themselves as Mrs or Miss.

In France, a man is a Mr all his life, but women are either mademoiselles or madames for official and business purposes, depending on their marital situation.

It's a distinction that no longer exists in a number of Western countries. Germany in 1972 banned Fraulein from official use. English-speaking countries give women the option of the neutral Ms.

The word mademoiselle comes from demoiselle, which used to be a title of nobility in pre-revolutionary France and only became linked with marital status during the Napoleonic era.

Since then, it has survived three government memos since 1967, all of which declared mademoiselle to have no legal standing.