PARIS - With nary a kiss to the hand nor tears of parting, the French government this week bids adieu to "mademoiselle."
In a memo addressed to state administrators across France, Prime Minister Francois Fillon ordered the honorific -- akin to "damsel" and the equivalent of "miss" -- banished from official forms and registries. The use of "mademoiselle," he wrote, made reference "without justification nor necessity" to a woman's "matrimonial situation," whereas "monsieur" has long signified simply "sir."
The choice of mademoiselle, madame or monsieur appears most everywhere one gives one's name in France: opening a bank account, shopping on the Internet or paying taxes, for instance.
Fillon's order, signed Tuesday, came after an advocacy campaign by two French feminist organizations, Osez le Feminisme! (Dare to Be Feminist!) and Les Chiennes de Garde (The Watchdogs).
Magali de Haas, an Osez le Feminisme! spokeswoman, expressed the hope that, in time, private organizations would also drop "mademoiselle" and it would fall out of popular use.
Fillon's memo also said that the terms "maiden name," "patronymic" and two expressions meaning "married name" are to be replaced by "family name" and "used name."
Apparently hoping to avert waste, he instructed that old forms should remain in circulation until the "exhaustion of stocks." No official estimates were offered on Wednesday as to when those supplies might run out.
NEW YORK TIMES
