Italian children should be given the surname of both parents, the Constitutional Court determined this week, overturning a rule that newborns in the European nation be automatically named after their father.
Signalling a significant social and cultural shift, the Court described the current system as “discriminatory and harmful to the identity” of the child, adding that both parents should be able to choose the surname.
“Children should be given both parents’ surnames in the order they decide, unless they agree their children should take just one of them”, the court added in a statement.
This would make it the first time in history that it was made broadly possible for children to solely carry their mothers’ last names.
At present, it is typical for Italian women to retain their own last names. The court’s ruling would transition Italian naming practices to align with countries such as Mexico, where children’s surnames often include their father’s followed by their mother’s.
The legislation is now pending Parliamentary approval before being implemented.
Elena Bonetti, Italy’s Family Minister posted on Facebook that the government would support the decision.
“We need to give substance (to the decision)…and it is a high priority and urgent task of politics to do so,” she wrote, adding that parents should take equal responsibility where it comes to the wellbeing of their child/ren.
Cecilia D’Elia, an Italian lawmaker and feminist, branded the current system the “last patriarchal sign of family law.”
Giving mothers “the same dignity” as fathers she wrote on Twitter, was “a sign of civility.”
Italy is one of the lowest-ranked Western European countries on the European Institute for Gender Equality’s latest index, falling below the European Union average.