Selections from Guidelines for Bias-Free Writing, by Marilyn Schwartz and the Task Force on Bias-Free Language of the Association of American University Presses. The following guidelines may shed some light on how to refer to women using the English language:

• "Scholars normally refer to individuals solely by their full or their last names, omitting courtesy titles." [Section 1.41, lines 4-5]

• "Because African-American women have had to struggle for the use of traditional courtesy titles, some prefer Mrs. and Miss." [Section 1.41, lines 23-25]

• "Most guidelines for nonsexist usage urge writers to avoid gratuitous references to the marital status of women." [Section 1.41, lines 1-2]

• "Ms. may seem anachronistic or ironic if used for a woman who lived prior to the second U.S. feminist movement of the 1960s." [Lines 7-9]

• "Careful writers normally avoid referring to a woman by her first name alone because of the trivializing or condescending effect." [Section 1.42, lines 1-3]

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