One hundred sixteen years ago today, a woman most of you have likely never heard of, died.
Her name was Lucy Stone. Though she was also known for her advocacy of abolition and women’s suffrage, her name remains her dominant legacy.
Lucy Stone, the first recorded American woman to use her maiden name after marriage. Image: Wikipedia
Lucy Stone was the first recorded American woman to choose to use her maiden name after marriage.
On the occasion of her death anniversary, I thought I’d revisit the name change study I wrote about in August that received some press when it was presented at the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting. To refresh you, this was the study that revealed 71 percent of respondents thought it was better for women to change their names after marriage, and half - Half! I still can’t believe it — thought the government should mandate name changes.
I spoke with study co-author Laura Hamilton, a PhD. candidate at Indiana University, and found out one other question was right up my alley:
If a woman keeps her maiden name when she marries, what should the last name of the children be?
Given the other results, the responses were actually more liberal than I expected. More than half (53 percent) said the kids should get the husband’s name. A grand total of 1 percent (12 people) said the wife’s last name. But one third - way more than I’d have guessed - said a combination of the two. (Another 12 percent gave some other response, said they didn’t know or refused to answer.)
What was most intriguing was Hamilton’s contention that opinions on name change open a window into broader gender attitudes. The study’s titled, “Mapping Gender Attitudes with Views Toward Marital Name Change.” Hamilton says that since the subject of name change isn’t a political hot button, a person is more likely to answer honestly. For instance, responses to a direct question on gender attitudes like “Is it better for women to stay home and men to work?” would be filtered though a politically correct lens.
“People are very careful to be PC. They know the ‘right’ answer, so they answer really carefully,” Hamilton said. But since name change isn’t as politically charged, responses are more reliably genuine.
“It taps really well into people’s views on gender without raising a flag,” said Hamilton.
Given the aforementioned results, however, I see a flag - a big one. Not with the study, but with what it portends. More on that tomorrow.
[...] “It was a little shocking to see,” said Laura Hamilton, one of the study authors and a Ph.D candidate at Indiana. (Read more about the study, “Mapping Gender Attitudes with Views Toward Marital Name Change” and my interview with Hamilton on my personal blog.) [...]