L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2022 www.italoamericano.org 10 L'Italo-Americano Y ou know the rule: children in- herit their fa- ther's sur- name automatic ally in most countries of the world, with the notable excep- tion, for instance, of Spain and South America, where both are given, but only the father's passing on further. For a long time, having your mother's surname or a d o u b l e - b a r r e l e d o n e w a s considered out of the ordi- nary in Italy: the latter was a thing for the aristocracy, the former a sign that, perhaps, dad didn't want to have any- thing to do with you, with good peace of women's free- d o m o f g i v i n g t h e i r o w n name to their child, if so they wished. About a month ago, how- e v e r , t h i n g s c h a n g e d : t h e C o n s t i t u t i o n a l Court ruled that, from now on, families can give both parents' surnames to their children, breaking free from a centuries-old patriarchal habit. Even if not yet blessed officially by law, using two surnames has been growing popular in Italy, just as it has in other parts of the world: a sign of changing cultures and a c c e p t a n c e o f e q u a l i t y between men and women not only at work and in front of the law but also in family matters. I n s o m e p a r t s o f t h e world, as we said, this is not new: besides Spain, double- barreled surnames are com- mon in areas of the UK and France. Italy, however, had still to put black on white that mothers had the same right as fathers to give their family name to their off - spring, as it has always been automatic for newborns to i n h e r i t t h e p a t e r n a l c o g - nome. This is, quite simply, an immense step in the social history of the country, one that goes towards a wider acceptance of equality and that enables families to con- tinue existing: how many times, because of the impos- sibility of passing on a moth- er's surname to children, families just lost their place in a community? The change comes after decades of women's rights campaigning, as well as a series of significant rulings from the European Court of Human Rights (2014) and even one of the Italian Con- s t i t u t i o n a l C o u r t ( 2 0 1 6 ) , which had not been suffi- cient, however, to convince the Italian parliament to set a s i d e t h i s l a s t v e s t i g e o f p a t r i a r c h a l p o w e r . T h e recent ruling of the Consulta, though – that's how Italians familiarly know the Consti- t u t i o n a l C o u r t , a f t e r t h e name of the palazzo where it has its see – strikes off from o u r l a w s t h e a u t o m a t i c assignment of the paternal surname to children, stating that, from now on, both sur- n a m e s w i l l b e g i v e n b y d e f a u l t , o r e v e n j u s t t h e mother's, if this is the par- ents' wish. The ruling is not quite yet law, as it needs to be approved by the Parlia- ment, which, however, very rarely goes against a consti- tutional decision. In truth, almost all Italian parties presented a request t o c h a n g e t h e r u l e a t t h e beginning of this legislature but, as it very often happens in Italian politics, no signifi- cant steps forwards had been made since. MPs have now the difficult duty to regulate how surname choice can take place and decide whether it should work retroactively. At the moment, six drafts of the law have been present- ed, most of which act on the same aspect modified by the Constitutional Court, sur- name attribution. Married couples will be, very likely, g i v e n t h e o p p o r t u n i t y t o choose whether they want to give to their children their father's, their mother's or both surnames, in which case it's up to the parents decide which of them goes first. In cases where an agreement can't be reached, the option of – quite simply – going in alphabetical order has been proposed. What about children born out of wedlock? The same rules apply, provided both parents recognize the child as theirs; if, on the other hand, this doesn't happen, then newborns will get the name of the parent recognizing them. If one of the two par- ents recognizes a child at a l a t e r s t a g e , w h e n t h e y already have a surname, then the second surname can be added only if the child's car- ing parent accepts and, when older than 14, if the child does it, too. C o n s i d e r a t i o n i s g i v e n also to parents with more than one child. To avoid sib- lings having different sur- names, all successive chil- d r e n a c o u p l e h a s w i l l automatically acquire the surname chosen for the first- born. Children who'll get a double-barreled surname will have the opportunity, when the time comes, to pass onto their own children only one surname of their choice. Law proposals also active- ly looked at children who were given only the paternal or maternal name at birth: the idea is to enable them to add the other parent's sur- name. This would be valid for both children of married parents, as well as those born o u t o f w e d l o c k , p r o v i d e d both parents have recognized them. It is a new, welcome phase in the history of Italian fami- lies, a symbolic gesture that should narrow the gender gap, at least in bureaucracy and in people's minds. FRANCESCA BEZZONE Children with their mother: today, they can get her surname just as easily as their father's (Photo: Feverpitched/Dreamstime) Your father's, your mother's, or both: how Italy gets to change its surname HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS

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