Want $500,000? Keep Your Maiden Name
June 23, 2011 2 Comments
Getting married and debating whether or not to change your name? You should definitely keep your maiden name!
Married women who kept their maiden name were more likely to get a job and even attracted higher pay, which could add up to $524,000 by the time they retire, according to research.
Researchers looked at the data of 2,400 married women. Three-quarters had taken their husband’s name, 7 percent had hyphenated last names and the rest kept their maiden names. They found that women who kept their names were more educated, had fewer children, worked more and had higher salaries.
Why? The women who chose not to take on their husbands’ names in any way were perceived to be more “independent, intelligent, ambitious and competent” than the other women.
These impressions were confirmed in a second part of the study where researchers asked 90 students to imagine the personalities of two married women, one who had changed her last name to her husband’s and one who hadn’t. The imaginary wife who kept her maiden name was was described as intelligent and competent; the other was described as caring, dependent and emotional.
This prejudice against women who change their last name or hyphenate their last names is just unfair. Taking on your partner’s name doesn’t mean that you’re old-fashioned and are disappearing in your relationship; some people just prefer to do it to create a sense of unity in their families.
And it certainly doesn’t undermine your intelligence or your competence at your job. Bosses need to realize this because women who change their name are great employees and deserve promotions and raises just as much as those who keep their maiden name.
Contact the author here: sedera@morningquickie.com
I think this data is a bit skewed. Stay at home moms are probably more likely to take their husbands’ names and women who have already established a professional name for themselves are less likely to do so.
Also, who knows whether your last name is your father’s or your husband’s unless you tell them?
I think there is a causation / correlation problem here. Women who keep their maiden names are probably more likely to be feminists, therefore more likely to pursue a higher position in the workplace. Same with the education and children thing: they’re more socially liberal, and more likely to pursue further education, and because of this intelligence, more likely to know how to use birth control.