France bids adieu to title 'mademoiselle'

France, pressured by feminist groups, has bid adieu (goodbye) to the term "mademoiselle" (unmarried woman), which it will now strike out from official French documents for supposedly being "condescending.  According to a report of the news site BBC on Wednesday, feminist groups claimed that men (monsieur) do not have to specify whether they are married or single. Women, on the other hand, have to indicate whether they are madame (married) or mademoiselle (unmarried), the groups said.

The move to strike out the term "mademoiselle" from official documents was announced by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, BBC said.

A circular from the Prime Minister's office said the French government will no longer be interested in the marital status of women. The terms "maiden name" and "spouse's name" will also be replaced with "family name," BBC said. The government's move will apply to documents "ranging from tax forms to insurance claims and voting cards," BBC said. Based on the statistics of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), there were about 50,000 Filipinos in France as of 2009. - VVP, GMA News