The percentage of children who were given their mother’s last name based on a parental agreement has reached a record high of 2 percent, Ministry of the Interior data showed.
The data showed that 98.09 percent of children born between January 2013 and October were given their father’s last name, while only 1.91 percent inherited the mother’s last name.
However, this year alone, the percentage of children who were given their mother’s surname based on a parental agreement surpassed 2 percent for the first time since a law codifying patriarchal naming was amended nine years ago.
Article 1059 of the Civil Code was amended in 2007 with the aim of achieving gender equality, stipulating that children should be given their father’s last name except in special circumstances.
According to the amendment, parents should agree in writing about whether a child should assume the father’s or mother’s last name.
In addition to a written agreement, a child’s surname can be determined by a unilateral decision of either of the parents under certain circumstances, by a court ruling or by drawing lots at a household registration office, and alternatively, a child can be given their guardian’s surname according to the amendment and Article 49 of the Household Registration Act (戶籍法).
A total of 793,688 babies were born between 2013 and October, and 95.45 percent of them, or 757,567, were given their father’s last name, while 4.39 percent, or 34,866, were given their mother’s surname, according to ministry data.
In terms of how family names were passed on to the children, 92.7 percent, or 771,581, of the babies were given a surname after their parents reached an agreement, while 2.5 percent, or 19,936, were given a surname through a unilateral decision by one of the parents.
Among children whose last name was given unilaterally, 97.3 percent assumed their mother’s last name, and 2.5 percent assumed their father’s surname.
In cases where a surname was given unilaterally, a parent was usually deceased or missing, or the children were born out of wedlock.
In cases where parents drew lots, 81.41 percent of the children were given their mother’s last name, and 18.59 were given their father’s last name.
“Children being automatically given their father’s surname was a patriarchal naming practice, while the recent increase in the percentage of children assuming their mother’s last name has an important meaning in terms of gender equality,” Awakening Foundation secretary-general Chyn Yu-rong (覃玉蓉) said.
“Two percent is not a large figure or a big increase, but a change in the legal system would certainly give rise to a change in society. There will be a sizable effect as changes accumulate,” Chyn said.
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