There is nothing in the rules and regulations about having to address a civilian as anything beyond the basic behave yourself while around the general public while in uniform. so pretty much you either say sir or ma,am or Mr/Mrs or what ever you normaly say to a person that you dont personaly know.Tough seeing as this was an offical hearing it would be proper educate to say Ma'am to a public offical but that would apply to any person really civilian or military. And an officer is in no way shape or form an enlisted man.Enlisted is any person in the military who has joined as a non-officer thye simply must wish to enlist and meet the requiremnts. An officer has recived at least a B.A. in addtion to specific military education to allow them to have the skills to lead others also they are appointed by the president of the United States and approved by congress upon thier being commissioned as an officer. The officer to fully remove themselves from any military obligation must resign thier commission. unlike an enlisted man an officer can choose to resign thier commision at any time however if their education was in anyway paid for by the military they will likely end up serving some time as an enlisted man to pay back what they owe if they had not served a long enough time for thier branch to feel that they got a return on the money they spent to trin the person.
The woman is just being a snob.She thinks it is sexist to call her Ma'am I suppose. Though it would be sexist to call her slut or whore calling a female a lady,woman,Ma'am,Mrs. is in no way sexist she should get over herself.In her way of using titles what would you call a woman if you did not what her job was? Pardon me female human whose role in society I am not aware?