Japan activists demand dualsurname option on Women’s Day TOKYO (AP): WOMEN’S RIGHTS activists in Japan renewed their demand Wednesday for the government to allow married couples the option to keep both of their surnames, saying the current practice in which most women face social pressure to adopt their husbands’ surnames – a prewar tradition based on paternalistic family values – widens gender inequality. At a rally marking International Women’s Day, representatives from dozens of women’s rights groups delivered a joint statement to lawmakers urging them to do more to change the 125-year-old civil code, which forces married couples to choose one surname. “We strongly urge the parliament to face the issue and promptly achieve a revision to the civil code,” the activists said in a statement they handed to lawmakers who also attended the rally in Tokyo. Public support for a dual-surname option has grown, with surveys showing a majority now supports the option for married couples to keep separate surnames. Some couples have also brought lawsuits saying the current law violates the constitutional guarantee of gender equality since women almost always sacrifice their surnames. Under the 1898 civil code, a couple must adopt “the surname of the husband or wife” at the time of marriage – which experts say is the only such legislation in the world. Although the law does not specify which name, 95 per cent of women adopt their husbands’ surnames, as paternalistic family values persist and women are generally seen as marrying into their husband’s household. A 1996 government panel recommendation that would allow couples the option to keep separate surnames has been shelved for nearly three decades due to opposition by the governing Liberal Democratic Party. French strikers renew pressure on Macron to axe pension plan PARIS (AP): TENS OF thousands of people marched in Paris and other cities across the country Wednesday to denounce the government’s pension plan as unfair to female workers, in demonstrations meant to coincide with International Women’s Day. The show of anger against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 is set to continue in coming days, as train and metro drivers, refinery workers, garbage collectors and others have said they would continue ongoing strikes. Unions aim at maintaining pressure on the government as senators debate the changes. Feminist activists say the pension reform would further deepen gender inequalities at work, where women’s wages are on average 15.8 per cent below men’s. Hard-left lawmaker Clémentine Autain, who took part in the Paris march, said there are two reasons for the protest: “First, because, like every year, on March 8, we march to demand equality and also, to ask for this pension reform bill that is going to make women poorer to be withdrawn.” The reformwould raise the minimum pension age and require 43 years of work to earn a full pension, amid other measures. The government argues that the current system is expected to dive into deficit within a decade as France’s population ages and life expectancy lengthens. THE MONTHLY GLEANER | MARCH 9 - APRIL 8, 2023 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS 5 News Briefs Women chants slogans during the International Women’s Day celebration at the Mobolaji Johnson Stadium in Lagos , Nigeria, Wednesday , March. 8. AP Women march during the International Women’s Day demonstration Wednesday, March 8, 2023 in Bayonne, southwestern France. Feminist activists see the pension reform as unfair to women, especially because they say it would further deepen gender inequalities faced during their career. AP
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