Gender equality groups are pushing for ‘Mx’ to become an acceptable title for people who identify as neither male nor female.

Mx, pronounced ‘mix’ or ‘mux’, is gaining popularity as a non-gendered pronoun to sit alongside Mr and Ms as a neutral title for those who do not conform to traditional gender identities.

“People are not feeling validated, and it does cause stress,” says executive director of Transgender Victoria, Sally Goldner.

“Documentation and forms that don't match the reality of people's existence are part of that.”

An assistant editor of the Oxford English Dictionary recently told the Sunday Times newspaper that the title Mx could be included in the next edition of the dictionary.

If it made the dictionary, Mx would mark the most significant addition to the accepted list of honorifics in recent history.

The push to take on Mx ties in with Australian Human Rights commissioner Tim Wilson’s recent speech on what he called “Australia’s transgender awakening”, in which he declared that transgender Australians faced some of most extensive discrimination of any social group.

Commissioner Wilson says Australia must improve education, awareness, resources and opportunities for transgender people and society at large.

Given that a third of transgender Australians identify as neither male nor female, Mx could be the gender-neutral term that gets the ball rolling.

While Ms Goldner says Mx “will give flexibility and respect” to the transgender community, one language expert says the word is “ugly”.

Emeritus Professor Roland Sussex from the University of Queensland School of Languages and Cultures has praised the worthiness of a more inclusive term, but says Mx is not the right one.

“I think avoiding terms which are discriminatory, and particularly unnecessarily discriminatory, for gender are worth getting rid of or at least not using the way we used to,” he told ABC reporters.

“The trouble is that you want something that is going to sound okay... [but] I'm afraid Mx looks like a half-blown scientific formula or expression of some kind.

“Whichever way you pronounce it as mix, mux or Mx it's going to sound inept and uncomfortable.”

While the Mx pronoun is gaining credence around the world, Australian gender equality groups say there may be some confusion with a local magazine distributed on metro public transport, which is also called Mx.