A Ghanaian High Court Judge, Justice Alexander Osei Tutu, is advocating for a reconsideration of the custom where married women adopt their husbands’ surnames after marriage.
Justice Osei Tutu explained that historically, women often adopted their husbands’ names as they could not own property and changing their names gave them some form of identity. However, he noted that since many of these statutes have changed, it is time for women to have their own identities.
Speaking on the Ghana news platform, JoyNews’ The Law on Sunday, July 7, Justice Osei Tutu argued that the tradition of women changing their names after marriage has lost its legal relevance.
“This practice originated as an English custom intended to demean women, but its significance has diminished over time,” he stated. “We need to reconsider our adoption of the Mrs and the use of the husband’s name.”
According to him, the era where women were infringed by law is no more. He questioned why women continue to adopt the surnames of their husbands when they tie the knot.
“As old as the 11th century, married women were disabled from performing lawful acts. So if you marry as a woman, your husband’s identity covers you. This was an English custom which continued for many centuries until the 16th century when Christian ideology was used to support it. The Bible says that women should submit to their husbands. Towards the 19th century, legislation was passed to empower women to do the same things they could not do,” he stressed.
He added, “If you want to use the Bible to justify it, you may get it wrong because nowhere in the Bible did we have a woman changing her name after marriage. For example, Eve was never called Adam Eve. Jesus’ mother was never called Mary Joseph.”
Source: myjoyonline.com
