The high -level court in South Africa judged Thursday that men should be able to take the names of their wives and a law that prevented this equivalent to unjust gender discrimination.
The Constitutional Court said that the legal prohibition would not have been a legitimate objective of the government and has been suspended, opening the way to Parliament to adopt changes to the legislation.
While men were deprived of the ability to take the family names of their wives, discrimination was “much more insidious” for women, said the decision.
He “strengthens patriarchal gender standards, which prescribe the way women can express their identity, and this makes this relational expression to their husband, as a government and cultural defect,” he said.
The case was brought before the courts by two couples, one of whom wanted to honor the parents of the woman, who died when she was young.
In the other case, the woman wanted to keep her links with her family name as she was an only child.
Previously, men should apply for the internal affairs service to modify their last name, a request that has not been automatically granted.
The provisions allowing men to assume the surname of their wives on marriage are already in place in other countries, mainly in Europe and in certain American states.
