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The Constitutional Court in South Africa ruled on Thursday that men may take their wives’ surnames, declaring a law preventing this to be unfair gender discrimination.
The court said the legal ban served no legitimate purpose and suspended it, directing parliament to amend the legislation. Judges noted that while men were denied this choice, the impact on women was “far more insidious.”
The ruling stated that the law “reinforces patriarchal gender norms, prescribing how women may express their identity and making it relational to their husband as a cultural and governmental default.”
Two couples brought the case: in one, the woman wanted to honour her late parents; in the other, she sought to preserve her family surname as an only child.
Previously, men had to apply to the Department of Home Affairs to change their surname — a request not automatically granted.
Similar provisions already exist in several European countries and some US states.
