Betsy Wade changed my life. If you’re a woman or a journalist or both, she changed yours, too.
Because of Betsy, who died earlier this month at ninety-one, women, including me, were hired, and advanced, at the New York Times, at wages equivalent to those paid to our male colleagues. Other newspapers around the country did likewise. Because of Betsy, the
Times acknowledged “Ms.” as an honorific, or “courtesy title,” as the stylebook refers to the letters preceding a last name on second and subsequent references. It took until 1986, but finally the keepers of
Times style deemed that marital status indicated by “Miss” or “Mrs.” no longer need be telegraphed in reference to a woman.