Japan Press Weekly

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2016 October 12 - 18 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Court rejects married teacher’s demand for use of maiden surname in school

The Tokyo District Court on October 11 ruled against a female teacher who sought to continue using her maiden surname at her school.

The plaintiff is in her 30s and works at the Third Junior & Senior High School of Nihon University. She got married in 2013 and changed her surname to her husband’s surname. The teacher requested the school management to allow her to keep using her maiden surname in the classroom, but her request was dismissed. Claiming that the school’s decision infringes her personal rights, the woman in March 2015 filed a lawsuit against the school with the Tokyo District Court.

The court ruling states that the school’s act was not a human rights violation on the grounds that a married person can be better identified by his/her formally registered family name than by his/her maiden surname.

In addition, the court stated that the use of a maiden surname by a married person is not common in society.

The plaintiff’s lawyers in a press conference after the ruling criticized the district court ruling as being inconsistent with a Supreme Court ruling. In the December 2015 ruling which acknowledged the constitutionality of the current legal system obliging married couples to use the same surname, the Supreme Court pointed out that the use of maiden surnames is becoming popular and thus it is less and less advantageous for married persons to change their surnames.

The plaintiff said that if married teachers have to give up using their birth surnames, their relationship with students and their guardians would be affected. The plaintiff expressed her determination to appeal to a higher court.


Past related articles:
> Choice of name is fundamental for all people to be respected as individuals [December 17, 2015]
> Court rejects married couples’ demand for right to separate surnames [May 30, 2013]