Surly about surnames

Image supplied by: By Adam Zunder

A Globe and Mail article published Feb. 14 discussed the first legal challenge to a 113 year-old Japanese civil law that forces married couples to choose one surname for both partners.

A group of Japanese citizens has filed a lawsuit claiming that the law is a violation of equality—although couples may choose to use the woman’s surname, custom dictates that the wife adopts her husband’s. Use of the female surname is limited to rare cases and instances of financial benefit.

The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has labelled the existing law “discriminatory.”

The Democratic party elected to power in 2009 promised to design legislation allowing for separate surnames, but failed to push it through in the face of great conservative opposition.

Married individuals must use their chosen surname in all official capacities, reserving their birth name for private use.

There’s no reason to deny individuals the right to determine how they label themselves, or to force partners to decide which one of them must give up his or her name.

Forcing this choice upon married couples also denies them the right to choose a third name or hyphenated name for any children they might have.

Knowing someone’s name is a crucial part of staying in touch with and being able to find them and this is ever more pertinent in the age of the Internet.

It’s unsettling to consider the life-long consequences this law may have had on married individuals. One woman interviewed in the Globe article has been waiting 50 years for a change. She stated that she wants to pass away under her birth name, not that of her husband.

This law also has the potential to seriously weaken existing partnerships.

One couple, plaintiffs in the case, became so exhausted with the inconveniences posed by giving up a surname that they filed for a divorce and remained together. The Globe article indicates that high-profile economic issues may be pushing this concern to the background. It’s regrettable that a problem with such a simple solution is being pushed out of the spotlight.

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