Reply to Can't wait to change my surname, but notice many women keeping theirs, is there a reason for this trend?

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[quote=Anonymous]From: https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/4249567-women-change-names-marriage/amp/

“Carrie Baker, professor of the study of women and gender at Smith College, noted that “marriage is the one institution in society that we really have not moved beyond traditional roles and behaviors.”

“And I think the fact that women are still changing their names is a sign of that,” she said.

The tradition of U.S. women taking their husband’s last names reaches back to English common law, according to Baker.

The practice is rooted in coverture, a legal doctrine under which a woman’s legal identity was merged into her husband’s when they married.

“It was a whole system of law where a woman was subordinate in a marriage,” Baker said. “She couldn’t even be charged with a crime. If she were to commit a crime, he would be responsible.”

The system of coverture, brought to the United States by colonists, has eroded over time. But though women have gained more independence from their husbands, and men in general, the idea of a woman of keeping her name after marrying a man remains stigmatized, Baker said.

That stigma is due to American’s concept of masculinity, according to Emerald Christopher, an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University’s women’s and gender studies department.

Culture in many parts of the country — and around the world — still upholds the belief that the man is the head of a household and with that the name follows, Christopher said.

Any deviation from a woman taking her husband’s name could be viewed as abnormal or an insinuation that her husband “isn’t a real man,” Christopher said, in the sense that he doesn’t have the most control in his home.”

This tradition has to change… and it slowly thankfully is changing. I am sure that by the time my daughters will get married 50% of women will be keeping their names[/quote]

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