Alexander “Dr Smile” celebrates a feat after years of trying to include his wife’s name to his name.
It has been a norm for women to automatically take up their husbands’ name after wedding, but it’s a struggle when man attempts to have their wives’ names.
Taking to social media, the celebrity dentist said he’s successful acquired his wife’s name, legally.
“So this is the story. The South African government system, and probably 95% of government systems in the world, automatically give the Wife the surname of the Husband after marriage, or allow her to change or double barrel it and combine both surnames, BUT that’s not the case for the husband, the system doesn’t “allow” it and it’s not assumed that the husband would want to change his coz “men don’t do that”.
What she could sign and change on the marriage certificate I was not able to, and so on the date of our marriage, she assumed our new surname, but I was still Rawhani( because it’s an unequal outdated regressive system founded on patriarchy 99) ….
Annnnnyway, after multiple trips to home affairs, being told “husbands don’t change their surnames to the wife’s, we don’t do that”, many many many forms later, “lost” documents and a million emails to Head Office in PTA, I now have our new surname
One small step towards changing the system, one small step towards helping the future generations challenge unacceptable norms, one small step towards gender equality.
Please call me Alexander Faizi Abedian-Rawháni from now on,” he wrote.
