Mr., Mrs. and Ms.

This week, i had gone, along with other members of the local Rotary Club, to a Government Girls’ High School for planting some saplings in its compound, as a part of our Plantation programme. While sitting in the well-arranged room of the Headmistress, i had a look at the displays there.  The first thing that attracted my attention was a wall-hanging containing the names of the Toppers of the School in the Board Examination in the last 10 years. Another plaque on the wall contained information about the School, like the year of its establishment, number its students and some other matters. I was a little surprised to read the last line in this information-list. It read:  Name of the First Headmistress- Bhubaneswar Mishra. I was intrigued by the words ‘Headmistress’ and ‘Bhubaneswar’. Surely, ‘Bhubaneswar’ is a male name; how can he be the first Headmistress? Apparently, there was a mistake; the name must be ‘Bhubaneswari, a female name; the letter ‘i’ was surely and inadvertently omitted!

After some polite conversation, we rose to go to the site for plantation. I could no longer suppress my curiosity. I pointed to the name and told the Headmistress, “Madam, there must be some inadvertent mistake. Was the first Headmistress Bhubaneswari  Mishra?”  She smiled gently and said, “No Sir, he was Bhubaneswar Mishra.”  He?  I was intrigued and said, “Then why ‘Headmistress’ and not ‘Head Master’?”  She replied, “This being a Girls’ School, most its Heads and teachers have been females but sometimes, due to various reasons, males also are posted here.” She paused, smiled again and continued, “ The first Head was a male.” She paused again and said, “ Because it is a Girls’ School, the official designation of its Head is ‘Headmistress’ and rules being rules, the designation cannot be changed, to accommodate passing exceptions in postings.”

I smiled back in agreement.   

This brought to my mind a news report when Ms. Arundhati Bhattacharya was recently appointed as Chairman of State Bank of India. A few days after she took charge, some wise souls in the Bank’s Central Office felt that she should be officially referred to by the gender-neutral term Chairperson, keeping in view the recent practice in ‘politically correct’ usage everywhere.  However, some wiser people there found out that The State Bank of India Act, 1955, governing functioning of S B I, mentions only the word ‘Chairman’. They opined that the designation cannot be changed without amending this Act; this can be done only by Parliament which had passed the Act! So, the no-changers had their day and the pro-changers had to beat a hasty retreat!!

There is a view that the top post in an organization can be given the gender-neutral term ‘Chair’ denoting a position or designation but purists are not yet ready to accept it.

The name-boards of Branches and Offices of State Bank of India all over the country are bilingual. In English, it announces ‘State Bank of India’; in the local languages it says ‘Bharatiya State Bank’. I do not know whether The State Bank of India Act recognizes the two names simultaneously just as Article 1 of The Constitution of India says, ‘India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.’

Now-a-days, many organizations and Corporate Offices use the word ‘Chairperson’ when a lady becomes the Head but, ironically, revert to “Chairman’ when, subsequently, a male occupies the chair. The term ‘Chairwoman’ is never used.

As i was typing the text of this post, the wife was engaged in conversation, in Odia, with her friend. I overheard a sentence of the other lady. She was saying, “My Mr. does not like ….” etc. I have heard many people saying, “My Mrs.  …” etc. Many Indians, perhaps out of shyness, feel a little embarrassed and hesitate to say, ‘My husband’ or ‘My wife’ and, instead, say ‘My Mr.’ or ‘My Mrs.’ This happens in all Indian languages.

My mind wanders over to another related area. While addressing, why do we distinguish between unmarried and married ladies whereas such two types of males are not so treated?  Why are ‘Miss’ and ‘Mrs.’ prefixed to the names of unmarried and married ladies respectively whereas ‘Mr.’ is prefixed to the names of males irrespective of their marital status? Of course, boys are addressed as ‘Master so-and-so’ etc. but after they grow up, all of them become entitled to the common prefix ‘Mr.’

After marriage, women usually change their surnames to that of the husband. For a lot of people, if a woman does not change her surname after marriage, it seems to suggest that she is not fully committed to the marriage. Feminists argue that it is outrageous to follow a tradition that signifies a woman being handed over from her father to her husband! In the United Kingdom, following the principle of equality between the sexes, a few men have taken their wives surname's after marriage. 

Over the last few years, there has been an increase in couples - in most cases the wife - double-barrelling, the wife adding her husband's surname to her maiden surname. Sometimes, merging and blending also has taken place - the two surnames are combined to make a new surname altogether. However, the tradition of women taking their husband's surname remains still very strong.  

 When assertions of female-male parity came and politically correct terms came to be used more, the new prefix ‘Ms’ has come but this prefix is used very rarely because of its unfamiliar pronunciation.

What caps it all, is the latest gender-neutral prefix ‘Mx’, for use in case of both males and females. First mooted in U S of A in 1977, this term is soon going to be included in Oxford English Dictionary. ‘Mx’ is the short version of the term ‘Mixter’. There is of course a little confusion about whether it is to be pronounced as ‘mex’, ‘mux’ or ‘mix’!  

 Another ‘politically correct’ expression ‘promoted’ ‘house-wives’ into ‘home-makers’.

TAIL-PIECE:

Why does, in most cases, a girl go to the boy’s house after their marriage? Why not the other way round?

2. The name plate at the gate of the clinic we visited announces: Dr.(Mrs.) Shradhanjali   
     Mishra.' Why doesn't the name plate of a male doctor announce in a like manner:  'Dr.(Mr.) So-and-So Mishra'?