>> Support material: Chapter 7


Chapter 7: Families and intimate relationships

 

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Case studies Video clips Weblinks Further reading Podcasts

 

Case study

Has a retro movement begun?

Although women are better educated than ever before and most of them are engaged in paid employment, it would seem that domestic life is settling into old stereotypes. According to an article by Deirdre Macken in The Weekend Financial Review (2009), a surprising number of women change their surname and take on their husband’s when they get married. It would seem that younger women are more likely to do this when they marry than are older women. Does this change at the marriage register indicate a major shift in the attitudes of people towards gender relations, sexuality, and domestic arrangements?

What are some of the reasons given for this apparent movement back to 1950s values? One reason seems to be about status. In an era when women can have an education and a career and the majority of people live in de facto relationships at some point in their lives, getting married is about making a statement—and part of that statement for a woman is changing her name to that of her husband. Another reason given for women to change their name when they marry is that children do not have to explain that their mother’s name is one thing, their father’s is another, yet their parents are not divorced.

Perhaps the role of marriage has changed in the twenty-first century. For those who aspire to a comfortable lifestyle, two incomes are now necessary. Formalising a partnership by way of marriage may well be the first step in achieving this. Or is taking your husband’s name when you marry an indication that the equality argument for women has been won, and perhaps there are other things to fight for?

Reference

Macken, Deirdre 2009, ‘First, take your husband’s name’, Australian Financial Review, October 17–18, pp. 24–5.

Discussion questions

  1. Do you think that taking your husband’s name when you marry is an expression of freedom to choose rather than an expression of traditional values?
  2. Has marriage become something of a status symbol now that so many couples live together in de facto relationships?
  3. List some of the reasons from both a woman’s and a man’s point of view as to why women should take their husband’s name. Then list some reasons why not.
  4. Are people becoming more conservative in their domestic roles?