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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 7 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 1949 ..

MS McRAE (continuing):

The point of the honorific Ms was to give women the option of using a title which was as neutral and uninformative as the Mr used by men. But responses to a recent survey on the question, "What does Ms mean to you?" included, "It's used by feminists, insecure bitches, dried-up old maids and divorcees."

One wonders what kind of information we're giving out when we choose Ms as an option when signing forms, applying for jobs, handing over our credit card. How many people have assumed I was a feisty feminist, a divorcee, a lesbian, or all three, simply because I used Ms.

Ms was first used in 1952 by the National Office Management Association in Philadelphia when it was announced "this modern style solves an age-old problem" -

this was back in 1952 -

but, in reality, it may have caused more confusion and discrimination.

In some environments, such as universities, there may be a common understanding and usage of Ms. As Thiele says, "In my context at university it is standard for all female students to be addressed as Ms unless requested otherwise."

But this clarity of usage isn't necessarily mirrored throughout the community.

When, during his speech for International Women's Day in 1975, the then South Australian Premier Don Dunstan announced his government's plan to use the title Ms in correspondence with women, it incited fiery debate.

His female staff were overwhelmed by phone calls objecting to the plan and accusing them of being lesbians, man-haters and women's libbers.

Newspapers were inundated with letters either strongly objecting or supporting the use of Ms. Responses to Dunstan's plan as reported in an article in the Adelaide Advertiser on March 12, 1975, included, "I have worked hard to become a Mrs"; "I married to become a wife, not a mistress"; ...

And so the article goes on. I will pick it up a bit later, where it says:

Perhaps the radical feminist tag attached to Ms has been strengthened by Ms magazine. Gloria Steinem and Patricia Carbine brought out the first issue of Ms, a magazine attempting to speak to and for women's liberation, in 1972 - it's still in publication 24 years later.

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