Both economic and sexual dependence of women in marriage were to be challenged during the 1970s and 1980s. One of the expressions was the refusal to assume their husband’s name or to use the title of Mrs; instead they would keep their own name and use the title Ms. This challenge came from the idea that women were not only equal partners but independent partners. All people in New Zealand felt the impact even Sir Edmund Hillary who expressing his regret that the new attitude of wives made it more difficult for his mountain expeditions “Wives are not the same creatures as those of the forties and fifties when I first began going on expeditions. In those days the little woman stayed pluckily and happily at home, caring for small children and generally keeping the home fires burning. But times have changed. Either they refuse to let their husband go or they want to come along too”. This quote is an accurate quote taken from the Waikato Times on 23 February 1979 at the time that attitudes were changing. This reflects the Second Wave of Feminism having strong effects of his community and deeply affecting his life by making it more difficult to be an individual. This sheds light on the issues that the structure of marriage had changed; men and women were equal, they both had roles to play. This is one of the ways that women shifted the constraints of dependence and subservience. The double standard was not confined only to sex but was also implicit in the way women were designated according to their marital status. Whereas men’s marital and sexual status or experience could not be distinguished by the term Mr, feminists had the strong belief that women should be either Ms or Mrs.
The campaign against honorifics and in support of Ms was an early focus of feminist attention. Newspapers and other media outlets refused to use women’s names and insisted on using Miss or Mrs. Ms was a symbol of freedom from the public’s declaration of a relationship to a man. Therefore the term “Ms” was introduced as a socially acceptable title that expressed freedom, outspokenness and a defiant sexuality. Although the change to Ms has not been as popular as hoped. Honourifics are used in New Zealand by women around New Zealand. Many witnessed them, impacting on all the people of society's life in some way.