Data from the National Association of Natural Persons Records reveals that 24% of women stopped using their husbands last name in the period analyzed.
One of the items on this week’s agenda was whether or not to adopt her husband’s surname. Data recently released by the National Association for the Registration of Individuals (Arpen) revealed that the number of women who joined the practice has decreased by 24% over the past 20 years here in Brazil. In 2021, for example, that number reached its peak: about 18 thousand womenhe chose not to change his name.
And if before the practice was almost an obligation, today this data reinforces the fact that many women have chosen to live theirs individual freedom to choose to be what it is. It is true that many choose not to receive their surname due to the bureaucracy of changing documents. But it’s impossible not to comment that the practice turned out to be too old-fashioned for female audiences.
In this sense, even the refusal to adhere to the husband’s name can be seen as a practice that it helps to preserve her identity as a woman. In other words, if before the surname had the function of preserving an inheritance, today this status and relevance no longer makes sense for many people.
Ana Tomazelli, psychoanalyst, comments that “taking the surname of the husband’s family is something rooted in our society and has its origins in a patriarchal history: for some it is just a harmless tradition, for others, the fruit of machismo”. And when we stop to think about this gesture from a more feminist perspective – which has been happening for some years now – it is possible to understand why many women no longer use their husbands surname.
Another fact that coincides with this choice is that, in 2021, the number of divorces operated by the Brazilian Notary College broke records. 80,573 were registered, surpassing the year 2007, now the second highest number in the country. In this sense, these women, in addition to putting aside a slightly retrograde attitude, also go on with their lives, without insisting too much on relationships that do not work.
“This is something very significant, not only because she won’t have to worry about changing all the documents again when she gets divorced, but mostly because, apparently, the woman is more aware of preserving her identity, as she carries her whole birth name. its history “, emphasizes Elisa Tawil, business consultant.
On the other hand…
While feminism is fashionable, men are becoming allies in the struggle on the other. Since 2002, men have been able to adopt their wife’s surname at the time of marriage and, according to the data, this practice is increasingly widespread.
In São Paulo, for example, on average, 34% of marriages are celebrated civilly with the groom earning an extra surname. In other words, the permanence of a legacy is still alive, but it is acquiring new layers.
Source: Ana Tomazelli, psychoanalyst and founder of the research institute for studies on women and multiple existences; Elisa Tawil, business consultant and co-founder of the Instituto Mulheres do Imobiliário.
Source: Terra
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