Men in South Africa can now legally take their wives’ surnames, court rules.

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South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that men should have the right to take their wives’ surnames, declaring a law that barred this practice as unfair gender discrimination.

The court found that the restriction had no valid governmental purpose and suspended it, instructing parliament to amend the legislation accordingly.

While the ban directly prevented men from assuming their wives’ surnames, the judges stressed that its deeper impact was on women, calling the discrimination “far more insidious.” The ruling explained that the law reinforced patriarchal gender norms, limiting women’s ability to define their identity independently and tying it to their husbands by default.

The case was initiated by two couples: one in which the woman wished to honour her late parents, and another where the woman, being an only child, wanted to preserve her family surname.

Until now, men in South Africa had to apply to the Department of Home Affairs for a surname change, a process that was neither straightforward nor guaranteed.

The judgment noted that similar provisions allowing men to take their wives’ names already exist in many European countries and in several U.S. states.

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