Tory loses ‘gender neutral’ bid to stop women being called Ms, Miss or Mrs
A TORY has lost her battle to stop women on her council being addressed as Mrs, Miss and Ms in favour of a “gender neutral” title.
Deneice Florence-Jukes had objected to the way she and other women were referred to at East Staffordshire Borough Council.
But her plan was defeated after councillors complained they were being put into a “politically correct straitjacket”.
She had already successfully challenged etiquette guide Debretts to change its “outdated advice”, which is followed by the council.
It had said elected women should be addressed as “Councillor Miss”, “Councillor Mrs” or “Councillor Ms”, then their name.
But after Councillor FlorenceJukes approached Debretts, it changed its advice and said women should no longer be strictly referred to in this way.
Instead the non-gender term “councillor” without a prefix could be used.
However, her motion was defeated by her council, based in Burton upon Trent.
It instead voted 14 to 13 to allow councillors to decide what title they preferred. Councillor Florence-Dukes said she “disappointed” by the result.
She had claimed that most of the resistance to the change came from “ladies who liked being called Mrs”.
She said: “I did this to show the people that this council is open and forward thinking and not hung up on a title.
“I tabled a motion amendment was put in.
“I agree with it to some extent, of course we should stick with the title of councillor. My argument was it was not about what and felt an individual councillors wanted to be called, it was about the wider message.
“Women are majorly underrepresented on the council and if people want to be in public life we need to show we are welcoming and non-discriminatory.
“The title councillor is a standalone, gender neutral, one-sizefits-all title.”
Tory councillor Julia Jessel, who voted against the motion, said she liked to be called “Mrs”.
She said: “I, through personal choice, prefer to be referred to as Mrs Jessel. Technically I am not a Mrs. I was divorced in 2000 but chose, because my children were young, to retain my married name and my married status.”
She added: “I think that should be down to people’s personal preference. This authority, I’ve always found, has been very respectful to the individual and one of the things that I speak against is being put into a politically correct straitjacket.”
The row blew up after newly elected Councillor FlorenceJukes was told her request to be referred to simply as “councillor” was the first the council had received. The council said it had always followed the guidelines laid down in Debretts.