South Africa’s Constitutional Court has ruled that husbands can assume their wives’ surnames, striking down legal provisions that prevented them from doing so on the grounds they amounted to gender-based discrimination.
The case was brought by two couples: Henry van der Merwe, who sought to take his wife Jana Jordaan’s surname, and Andreas Nicolas Bornman, who wanted to hyphenate his name to include his wife’s, Donnelly. The court confirmed a prior High Court ruling in their favour.
Parliament must now amend the Births and Deaths Registration Act and its regulations to give effect to the decision.
Backing the challenge, the Free State Society of Advocates argued that restricting men’s right to adopt their wives’ surnames entrenched harmful stereotypes by denying men a choice long available to women. The ministers of home affairs and justice did not oppose the application.