Styles often change very slowly. Before this day in 1986 — 36 years ago — a woman could not be a “Ms.” in the pages of The New York Times.
That’s because a top editor had persuaded the publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, that the usage was a passing fad. Reporters had to pry when interviewing women: Are you Miss or Mrs.? “It’s none of your damned business!” reporters were sometimes told.
In 1972, “Ms.” was accepted by the American Heritage School Dictionary. But it took protests, internal pressure, time and a smart strategy to persuade The New York Times to follow suit.
Paula Kassell, a feminist writer and publisher, bought Times stock so that she could raise questions about the policy at shareholders’ meetings. In April, 1986, Kassell persuaded Sulzberger to convene language experts — but then received word that the paper would allow “Ms.” without further discussion.
As The Times prepared its first edition using “Ms.,” Betsy Wade, a Times editor, wrote, “Gloria Steinem, Mary Thom and other editors of Ms. magazine walked into the city room with a basket of flowers for the editor” — A. M. Rosenthal — “and the copy editors and reporters applauded.”