Despite new law, children are still being given father’s surname: poll

But the results of a poll released yesterday show that legal reform has failed to budge entrenched cultural attitudes, at least for the time being.

The poll found that only 4.3 percent of parents of newborn children took advantage of the new law over the past year and registered their children with the mother’s surname, said the Awakening Foundation, the women’s rights group responsible for conducting the poll.

“To promote equal rights between the two sexes on the issue of which of the parents’ family names is used in naming children, Taiwan’s society still needs to overcome both legal obstacles and cultural restraints,” said foundation Chairwoman Fan Yun, in response to the results.

Before the revised laws took effect in May 2007, a child was required to assume the father’s surname, with some exceptions, including if the mother had no brothers to inherit her family name, or if the mother won custody of a child in a divorce proceeding.

Fan said the poll indicated that although 59.8 percent of parents are comfortable with the revised regulation, 62 percent of them said they would still not have their children take their mothers’ surnames.

“This showed that in reality, our traditional mind-set restrains Taiwan’s people from taking advantage of the new regulation and its benefits,” Fan said.

Citing the patriarchal mentality that has dominated Taiwanese society, Fan said one of the main barriers to change has been that women have not had the same rights as men in past years, especially legal rights such as inheritance rights.

“But since women are now as legally entitled as men to inherit the family estate, we should teach society that women should have equal rights in terms of choosing the child’s family name,” she said.

Even the revised law has its detractors, however, because it only allows the child to use the mother’s surname if both of the parents come to an agreement. It does not provide a backup mechanism when one of the parties, often the father, objects.

Yu Mei-nu, the chairwoman of the National Union of Taiwan Woman Association and an attorney at law, believes that the 2007 amendment is flawed and a step backward because of the lack of such a provision.

“The previous regulation offered a chance for a divorced mother to change her child’s surname and assume hers or that of a new spouse without having to earn the consent of her former spouse. The revised law does not provide such an opportunity,” Yu explained.

She said that under the constitution, women are afforded the same degree of legal protection as men, and those constitutional rights should be respected in regulating the child-naming issue.

“Many divorced women who want to give their children their own surnames or that of their new husbands cannot do so because of the objections of their former husbands,” she said.

Yu indicated that she will continue to urge the Legislative Yuan to further revise the law, saying that her union, along with other women’s rights groups including the Awakening Foundation, will propose a draft to remedy the predicament of those divorced women.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email