Does a Name Prefix Matter?

Every child enjoys receiving mail addressed to them personally.  I enjoyed receiving birthday cards from my great-grandmother more than anyone else as the envelopes were always addressed to “Master Kevin Reed.”  At first I was confused and my mother explained to me that “Master” was the proper title for a boy and that upon becoming a man I would be addressed as “Mr.” I then learned that young girls were addressed as “Miss,” unmarried women as “Ms.” and married women as “Mrs.” In this light, I found that the title “Master” made me feel significant.  I knew that while only a young boy, society was already acknowledging me and my place in it.

Today it is common for unmarried and married women alike to be addressed as “Ms.” In many situations one may not know if a woman is married or not and so it is believed safer to address a woman simply as “Ms.” However, I recently received a letter addressed to “Mr. and Ms.” Clearly in context of the correspondence the “Ms.” was really a “Mrs.” Was it a typo?  Not likely.  My experience has witnessed that many professional women today prefer to be addressed as “Ms.” Just as I understood as a young boy; a title reflects how society acknowledges a woman and her place in it.  The title “Mrs.” can be seen as too submissive to her husband, an irreconcilable trait for today’s professional woman seeking to be taken as an equal among male co-workers.  It is not enough that a married woman reject her husband’s surname, for a maiden name could also be mistaken for her husband's surname, and that just wont do.

If this sounds like a lament for the loss of the title “Mrs.” among married women of my time, it is true.  Hold the accusations of “misogynist,” however.  Remember that a title is how society acknowledges you and your place in it.  Women in my time have adopted the title “Ms.” because men have not treated them well in decades past, most specifically in the professional environment.  I regret the loss of the title “Mrs.” not only because the married association in the title of a woman is gone, but because it reminds me of why it has been dropped in the first place.