Women’s Rights Win: Married Women Don’t Have to Take Their Husband’s Name

A recent court decision now allows women in Turkey to continue to use solely their own surname after marriage should they so wish.

“Saying that a married woman must take her husband’s surname, and the child take their father’s surname is lending official support to the patriarchy,” says Professor Moroğlu on the traditional situation in Turkey.

The Constitutional Court’s decision came into effect on January 28th, after the court decided that the law within the Turkish Civil Code that forced women to inherit their partner’s name after marriage went against the equality clause of the Turkish constitution. Furthermore, the court deemed the inability of a woman to use only her surname after marriage if she chooses as an unequal treatment of partners of similar standing based solely on their gender. “The surname is an essential, indispensable, and inalienable personal right,” adds Moroğlu.