Question 16209 — women

Summary

Ms. Céline Thiébault-Martinez draws the attention of the Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister, responsible for equality between women and men and the fight against discrimination, to the lack of information for future spouses regarding the name used at the time of marriage. French law distinguishes the birth name from the common name that each spouse can freely adopt. Thus, a married woman can keep her birth name, take the name of her spouse or join the two, without any legal obligation imposing the name of her spouse. This fundamental freedom, enshrined in article 225-1 of the civil code, constitutes a direct expression of the principle of equality between women and men. However, many women are unaware of the very existence of the customary name and believe, wrongly, that they are required to bear their husband's name from the celebration of the marriage, which they sometimes do without update their identity documents, with all the administrative complications that this can entail. The future spouses do not seem to receive, during the preparation of their marriage file at the town hall, any specific information on their respective rights in matters of name. Such a gap deprives women of the possibility of exercising this choice with full knowledge of the facts and complete independence. This attack on freedom of choice is accentuated by the administrative practice which very often assigns the husband's name as the wife's usual name, including when the latter does not use it and has no official document established in this name. She asks him to indicate what measures the Government intends to take to correct on the one hand this lack of information for future spouses on their respective rights and on the other hand the administrative practice which, through ease or patriarchal resistance, does not seem to have taken into consideration the will of the legislator. It specifies that an instruction could usefully invite civil status officers to systematically inform future spouses when compiling the marriage file, as well as to any administration collecting data relating to civil status so that the attribution of the usual name to insured persons is subject to their express consent, in accordance with the provisions of the civil code. She wants to know his position on this subject.

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