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Ban surname changes for women after marriage

Submitted by Situ Chen on Friday 30th May 2025

Published on Wednesday 2nd July 2025

Current status: Closed

Closed: Friday 2nd January 2026

Signatures: 19

Relevant Departments

Tagged with

BANNED ~ Challenger ~ Change ~ Equal ~ Erasure ~ Expected ~ Identity ~ Law ~ Legally ~ Marriage ~ Norm ~ Origin ~ unity

Petition Action

Ban surname changes for women after marriage

Petition Details

We want the government to legally ban the tradition for women to change their surnames after marriage or for any institutions to assume any name change for women after marriage.

Additional Information

We think this could challenge the patriarchal norm that women must give up their original surname in marriage and protect equality by law.

Changing your surname after marriage is seen as tradition, but we think it roots from patriarchal norms and imply erasure. I’ve seen women pressured to change their names just to appear “normal” after marriage, or because their company assumed a name change (which shouldn’t be allowed). We do not think a family’s unity is defined by sharing a surname; even if it is, a man is never expected to change his name. By banning surname changes for women, we think we can protect identity and challenge outdated norms.


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