Hyphenated surnames

After the financial statements, the most read contents of annual reports of local corporations are the photos of the directors and management staff. The “who’s who” in the corporate hierarchy is often the subject of curiosity in the business circles.

Thanks to Photoshop technology, the visible effects of maturity (that’s the politically correct term for age spotted faces) and stressful living are brushed away from the top brass’ faces.

The rule of the thumb in the softer version of the rouge’s gallery is, smile. If you are unable to do so for any reason, keep a straight face because a less agreeable pose may send a not-so-pleasant message to stockholders and creditors.

Unless the director’s name rhymes with any of the country’s business tycoons, it is essential—publicity-wise—that the executives present an image of dynamism and confidence.

Lately, many boardrooms have undergone major gender adjustment. No longer are they dominated by men in formal suits or spiffy barongs. Women of substance are regularly elected or appointed as directors or managers of widely owned companies.

The proverbial glass ceiling that made it difficult for women to assume key executive positions has been broken. This development should not really come as a surprise since the country already had two female presidents.

Maiden names

A close look at the profile of this elite corporate group shows that the majority of its married members use their maiden and married surnames to identify themselves.

Earlier associated with widows, today’s version of hyphenated surnames may be interpreted as the married woman’s desire to project in public a persona separate and distinct from her husband. Although she carries her husband’s surname, she wants to maintain an identity of her own.

Notice also that when the hyphenated surname is used, the word “Mrs.” which was de rigueur in the past no longer precedes that form of identification even in official documents.

For über-spirited feminists, that prefix is considered a vestige of medieval male domination that has no place in modern society. (Do I hear male chauvinists groaning at the sidelines?)

From the looks of it, women who reached the age of maturity during the 1970s or earlier are comfortable using the word “Mrs.” or substituting their husbands’ surname for their maiden name.

Those who became wise to the ways of the world in later years, or during the height of the “female rights movement” in the 1980s, seem to prefer to use their maiden names even after marriage or, if they want to avoid pricking their husband’s ego, use the hyphenated surname form.

There are women who, out of love and respect for their better half, drop their maiden surname and replace it with that of their husband.

Options

How a married woman wants to be known or how she wants to be identified in public is her choice.

Under the law, a married woman has three options on what name to use: her maiden first name and surname plus her husband’s surname; or her maiden first name and her husband’s surname; or her husband’s full name and prefixing the word “Mrs.” to indicate that she is his wife.

In the case of “Ma. Virginia Remo vs. The Hon. Secretary of Foreign Affairs,” G.R. No. 169202, March 5, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled that a woman is not obliged to carry her husband’s name when they get married.

The tribunal said she was “allowed to use not only any of the three names provided in Article 370 (referring to the names mentioned above), but also her maiden name upon marriage.

“She is not prohibited from continuously using her maiden name once she is married because when a woman marries, she does not change her name, but only her civil status.”

As expected, the traditionalists (or those who believe a woman’s place is in the home and nowhere else, or that wives were created to cater to their husband’s ego) expressed their opposition to this “anti-family solidarity” doctrine.

The gist of their argument was, the husband’s surname is a gift that accompanies the marriage, which the wife, to show her fidelity to their marriage vows, should cherish by using it in public. (Please don’t shoot the messenger, this is just a quote.)

Protocol

A cursory review of the background of the women who use hyphenated surnames shows that they are either professionals, highly educated or entrepreneurs.

With this status level, it is understandable that they are assertive of their self-esteem or independence and does not consider the marriage certificate a bar to their personal or professional growth.

Woe to any male colleague or peer who makes light of or ridicules a female executive’s desire to be identified by her maiden and married surnames. Depending on his standing in the corporate hierarchy, he could either face a sexual harassment charge or receive an adverse performance rating.

As a matter of courtesy, and to be on the safe side, a woman’s decision to use a hyphenated surname in her public life should be respected. That’s her right.

Why she wants to keep her maiden surname in spite of her marriage is none of other people’s business. More so, if she happens to be your boss. It could be hazardous to your financial health!

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