South African court rule say men fit take dia wife surname

South Africa highest court don rule say husbands fit take di surname of dia wives. Dis judgement don overturn one law wey stop dem from doing so.

Di ruling na victory for two couples wey carry di case come court, di Constitutional Court bin rule say di law na "colonial import" wey amount to gender-based discrimination.

Dem deny Henry van der Merwe di right to take di surname of im wife Jana Jordaan, and Andreas Nicolas Bornman no fit hyphenate im surname to include Donnelly, di surname of im wife, Jess Donnelly-Bornman, di public broadcaster, SABC, report.

Parliament now need to amend di Births and Deaths Registration Act, along wit dia regulations, for di ruling to take effect.

Di two couples bin argue say di law dey outdated and patriarchal, and e go against equality rights wey dey for di constitution wey South Africa adopt for di end of white-minority rule.

Dem successfully challenge di law for one lower court, di High Court, but dem ask di Constitutional Court to confam dia ruling.

One legal body, The Free State Society of Advocates, join for di court case in support of di two couples.

Dem argue say by restricting a man right to assume dia wife surname, e mean say di law dey enable harmful stereotypes, as e deny men choice wey dey available to women, di Sowetan news site report.

Neither di Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber nor di Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mamoloko Kubayi oppose di two couples application, according to di IOL news site.

For most well-populated kontris, women dey free to change dia surname wen dem marry wish.

But e get some kontris wey law dey say women no fit change dia surname wen dem marry.

For Quebec, all women dey keep dia maiden names since 1981, weda dem want to or not.

Provincial law for Quebec forbid woman from taking her husband surname afta marriage.

Di laws dey more tough for Greece and Quebec. For Greece, you must petition a court for a name change, and for Quebec, even if dem want to, wife no fit take her husband surname, at any point.

For Iceland, women dey keep dia maiden names afta marriage.

Dem dey follow similar pattern for Ethiopia and Eritrea, wia no concept of surnames dey as e be for many Western kontris. At birth, dem dey give pipo one name, den followed by di father name, den di grandfather name.

Even afta marrying, women go retain dia original three names.

For one case from 2012, however, one Mississippi man bin need di help of di American Civil Liberties Union to take im wife surname.

And for France, one change for dia law now don allow men to take dia wife surname – dem register di first case for Lyon in 2012, but only afta dem deny di attempts to do so seven times, despite di amendment.