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Life

13th Oct 2016

This woman was forced to use her husband’s surname at work

Megan Roantree

This is outrageous.

A Japanese woman who is a teacher has been forced to use her husband’s surname due to an outdated law.

The woman was told by her employers that she must use her husband’s surname at work. She was told by three male judges that this was a ‘rational’ request.

She filed a lawsuit against Nihon University Daisangakuen, in a bid to be able to use her maiden name in a professional capacity but the case was sadly dismissed, according to the Guardian.

The 30-year-old argued that in her 13 years working with the university, her surname was already well established and known to staff and pupils as well as those outside of the university because of published academic research.

She claimed for 1.2 million yen (around 10 thousand euro) but the case was dismissed and the judges cited a newspaper poll as the reason. The poll said that of 1,000 female workers surveyed more than 70% used their husband’s name at work.

They acknowledged that more women were choosing to not change their surnames after they married, but the practice is “not deeply rooted in society”.

The woman said the ruling “destroys workplace environments that allow people who had to change their surnames [through marriage] to continue working without having to worry unnecessarily”.

Topics:

Japan,work