London school drops ‘Sir’ and ‘Miss’ honorifics to fight cultural misogyny

The school’s executive principal argued that ‘Sir’ had more heroic connotations, while ‘Miss’ is how you refer to ‘a small girl or an Edwardian shop assistant’. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Teachers at a leading sixth form will no longer answer to “Sir” and “Miss”, because they’re “deeply unequal” and feed into a view of the world that diminishes women, the school’s executive principal has told students.

While “Sir” brings to mind the heroics of Sir Lancelot and Sir Galahad, “Miss” is how you refer to “a small girl, or an Edwardian shop assistant”, James Handscombe told school assembly at Harris Westminster Sixth Form in central London.