Official French documents will no longer force women to reveal their marital status by requiring them to choose the title Mademoiselle or Madame.2

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has ordered all regional and local governments to remove the title“Mademoiselle”—used for unmarried women and implying a youthful immaturity3—from official documents. From now on, people filling out government forms will get just two choices: Madame or Monsieur4.

The change, signed in a memo to regional and local governments by Fillon, comes after lobbying from womens groups who argued that Mademoiselle is sexist.5 Its male equivalent—Monsieur—does not distinguish marital status.6 Mademoiselle also carries connotations of youth and immaturity, making it potentially problematic for unmarried women after a certain age, and confers a lesser status.7

Respondents on official documents will also no longer be asked to supply their maiden names,8 their fathers last name, or the name of their husbands.

1. Mademoiselle:〈法〉小姐（法語(yǔ)中對(duì)未婚女子的尊稱(chēng)，相當(dāng)于Miss）。

2. marital status: 婚姻狀況；Madame:〈法〉夫人，太太（法語(yǔ)中對(duì)已婚婦女的尊稱(chēng)，相當(dāng)于Mrs.）。

3. immaturity: 不成熟。

4. Monsieur:〈法〉先生（用于法國(guó)人名前，相當(dāng)于Mr.或Sir）。

5. lobby: 游說(shuō)（政府或有政治權(quán)力的人）；sexist: 性別歧視者（含貶義）。

6. equivalent: 對(duì)應(yīng)詞；distinguish: 區(qū)別。

7. connotations: 隱含意義；problematic: 成問(wèn)題的；confer:賦予，帶來(lái)；lesser: 次要的。

8. respondent:（尤指調(diào)查中）回答問(wèn)題的人；maiden name:（女性的）婚前姓，娘家姓。