Japan upholds 19th century law requiring married couples to share a surname

Japan's supreme court ruled Wednesday that an 1896 law requiring married couples to share a surname is in fact constitutional, a decision many consider to be a major setback for women's rights in the country. The challenge to the law was brought by five women who sought damages for "emotional distress and the practical inconvenience of having to take their husband's name," The Guardian reports.

While the Japanese law does not necessarily require a woman to take her husband's name — a man could just as well take his wife's — 96 percent of the time women do end up adopting their spouse's surname, a pressure critics attribute to Japan's patriarchal society.

"Names are the best way to bind families. Allowing different surnames risks destroying social stability, the maintenance of public order and the basis for social welfare," constitutional scholar Masaomi Takanori explained to NHK.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But one of the plaintiffs, Kaori Oguni, argued before the ruling, "By losing your surname…you're being made light of, you're not respected …. It's as if part of your self vanishes."

In a second legal provision, Japan's Supreme Court ruled that a law preventing women from marrying six months after divorce was a violation of gender equality; however, a ban of up to 100 days was ruled legal.