While taking their husband’s surname was once the norm, women are increasingly choosing to keep their maiden name after marriage.
And a new study suggests that this choice could change the way that people look at the husband.
Men whose wives decide not to change their surname are perceived as being more feminine and having less power in the relationship as well as being less able to look after them, according to the study.
Researchers from the University of Nevada looked at whether people’s perceptions of a man’s personality change depending on whether or not his wife adopts his surname or keeps her own.
In Western cultures, the tradition of women adopting their husbands’ surname is one of the most widespread gender-role norms.
But in recent years, experts have started to question why the surname tradition remains, despite changes in the role that women play in society.
Previous studies have shown that women who keep their own surname are seen as having more power, and being more self-focused, ambitious and assertive.
But until now, it has remained unclear how a woman’s surname choice influences how others perceive her husband.
To answer this question, the researchers carried out studies in the US and UK.
The first study asked 139 undergraduate students to envision a scenario where a woman in a heterosexual relationship decided to keep her last name after getting married.
Participants were then asked to answer open-ended questions about the man’s personality.
Results showed that the men were often described through terms that were counter to the gender-typical personality traits.
They were described in more expressive than instrumental terms, and were seen to hold less power in a marriage.
Dr Rachael Robnett, lead author of the study, said: ‘A woman’s marital surname choice therefore has implications for perceptions of her husband’s instrumentality, expressivity, and the distribution of power in the relationship.
‘Our findings indicate that people extrapolate from marital surname choices to make more general inferences about a couple’s gender-typed personality traits.’
Another study built upon the first, and looked to test whether participants were unanimous in how they thought about such cases.
Results showed that people who firmly hold on to traditional gender roles and can be described as hostile sexists react particularly strongly to a man whose wife retains her surname because they see him as being disempowered.
Dr Robnett added: ‘We know from prior research that people high in hostile sexism respond negatively to women who violate traditional gender roles.
‘Our findings show that they also apply stereotypes to nontraditional women’s husbands.
‘This study joins several others in alluding to a link between traditions in heterosexual romantic relationships and power structures favoring men.
‘The marital surname tradition is more than just a tradition. It reflects subtle gender-role norms and ideologies that often remain unquestioned despite privileging men.’
