"South Africa's Constitutional Court has ruled that husbands can take their wives' family name, overturning a law that banned them from doing so. Thursday's decision upheld a ruling made last year by a lower court, with Justice Loena Theron saying the existing law discriminated "on the grounds of gender" and was a "colonial import." The law, which only allows a woman to change her family name when her marital status changes, was introduced during the apartheid years of white-minority rule."
"The case was brought by two couples who sued the Department of Home Affairs for gender discrimination. One couple wanted both to have their family names hyphenated, while a second couple wanted the husband to take his wife's family name. Court says women taking men's names a 'colonial import' The current legislation infringes on the right to equality enshrined in South Africa's constitution, introduced in 1994 after the end of apartheid, the court found."
"The Constitutional Court ruling noted that "in many African cultures, women retained their birth names after marriage, and children often took their mother's clan name." "With the arrival of the European colonisers and Christian missionaries, and the imposition of Western values, the tradition of women taking their husband's surname was introduced," it said."
The Constitutional Court ruled that husbands can take their wives' family name and overturned a law banning that change. Justice Loena Theron said the law discriminated on the grounds of gender and called it a colonial import. The law allowed only women to change family names upon marital status change and dated from the apartheid era. The court suspended the legislation and gave the government two years to amend the Births and Deaths Registration Act. Two couples sued the Department of Home Affairs for gender discrimination. Social media reactions were mixed, with both praise and criticism.
Read at www.dw.com
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