Applications asking for Ms. vs Mrs.
alexcia
samez·Dec 15, 2020alexcia
samez·Dec 15, 2020Was that a required question? For me that would be a red flag. If you're not planning on working there then maybe send a email expressing why requiring an answer to this question is not ok.
Geez, I've never seen this on an application!I have always used Ms. as a way of not indicating either way. Miss = unmarried, Mrs. = married, Ms. = no indication.https://www.grammarly.com/blog/ms-mrs-miss-difference/
I also use Ms. everywhere! There should really only be “Ms.”, we’re in the 21st century, why should my marital status matter 🙄
Totally agree! It's the ambiguous equivalent of Mr. and should be the standard.
Seriously hate this! I think any gender-related questions is extremely strange (except for the purpose of diversity measuring). Why does my gender matter? And why does my marital status matter? So strange.
I think gender matters for statistics studies.For instance if you're applying to grad school, well for them it's pretty importan tto have that breakdown or else how can they answer the question "what's the percentage of women / identified as women that are part of the program" I could say the same about race - why does it matter if I am Black of African Descent, Black-American, Asian, Caucasian?
Are they actually / implicitly asking whether you're married (genuine question)? My understanding and general observation is that some people (sadly in my experience it's mostly been women) can take offense if they are called Mrs when they are really Miss/Ms (ie. connotation that they are "older") I've always found it very interesting to be quite honest so curious to read people's take!
This really hacks me off whenever I see it, in any context as a mandatory question. Occasionally I see an M or Mx option which I use to indicate I don't want to answer. I see it all the time when shopping online - why do you need my marital status to buy from your shop - is it 1950 and you want to check my husband has approved???? Sometimes I pick one at random from the list. I now get a tool catalogue occasionally through the post with the salutation 'Captain' - I must have been having one of those days.I think Title gets included by default in webforms, and I don't think people have made a conscious decision to require it. That also says to me, they don't take data protection seriously. If you do, you question every item of data you collect & hold about an individual, and whether you really need it. If the answer is no, don't collect it.Good to hear I'm not the only one who gets angry about it!
I've honestly never seen that, so it makes me think that's either a very outdated industry / company (think banking) or some cultural nuance thing (Which is also outdated).
share this article
read these next
Office Hours: I’ve invested in companies like Doordash, Gusto, and Nova Credit. I’m the co-founder and managing partner at Pear VC.
How to deal with microaggressions
On creating internal corporate programs to teach women to code
Office Hours: I'm executive director of integrated content strategy at Disney Branded Television. I'm Theresa Helmer.