Court says teacher must follow employer’s instruction not to use unmarried name in workplace despite practice becoming increasingly common elsewhere

The campaign for sexual equality in Japan has suffered another setback after a court ruled that a schoolteacher must use her married name at work, describing as “rational” her employer’s insistence on the practice.



The ruling at Tokyo district court came less than a year after the supreme court ruled that a 19th century law forcing married couples to use the same surname – almost always that of the husband – did not violate the constitution.

The teacher, who was not named, filed a lawsuit after her employer, Nihon University Daisangakuen, refused to allow her to use her birth name in professional interactions with pupils and parents.

The three male judges noted that while an increasing number of married women continued to use their birth names at work, the practice “has yet to take root in society”.

They cited a poll of 1,000 female workers in their 20s to 50s conducted in 2015 by the Nikkei business newspaper that found that more than 70% of married women used their husband’s name at work.

Japanese law requires married couples to enter a single surname in family registration documents. While the law does not stipulate which name they should adopt, in practice women take their husband’s name in 96% of cases.

The chief judge, Atsushi Onose, told the court: “In identifying and distinguishing each individual, the surname registered in the family registration system serves better than the maiden name.”

The woman, who has worked at the junior and senior high schools affiliated with the university since 2003, told reporters that the insistence on using her married name diminished professional accomplishments she had made before marrying, such as writing reference books.

The woman, who is in her 30s, said the ruling “destroys workplace environments that allow people who had to change their surnames [through marriage] to continue working without having to worry unnecessarily”.

She had asked the school for permission to continue using her original name after she married in 2013 but the school insisted that she use her registered married surname while teaching.

Her lawyers pointed out that their client was widely known by her previous name among teachers, pupils and parents, and accused the school’s management of “power harassment” by addressing her only by her married name.

In practice many Japanese women continue to use their birth names at work, reserving their legal, married surname for official documents – a choice recognised by the supreme court in 2015.

Masayuki Tanamura, a professor of family law at Waseda University in Tokyo, accused the court of being out of touch. “The ruling is a significant setback from the supreme court decision,” he told the Asahi Shimbun. “Individual decisions should be respected at schools all the more, since that is where individuality is valued.”



Japan’s status as one of only a few industrialised countries where married couples are legally required to use the same surnames prompted a UN committee on the elimination of discrimination against women to call on the government to revise the law.

The justice ministry recommended 10 years ago that the same-name rule be abolished but the move was blocked by conservative politicians who described it as an attack on family values and social cohesion.

When the law was introduced during the Meiji era (1868-1912) marriages were widely regarded as unions between families, not individuals. At the time it was common for a woman to leave her family to become part of her husband’s family.

The recent court ruling contrasts with attempts to make workplaces more female-friendly as part of a drive by the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to boost growth by bringing more women into the workforce.