After 200 years, names of mothers will be added to the marriage register
FOR almost two centuries wedding certificates have featured simply the names and jobs of the spouses, and the names and occupations of their fathers.
Now details of the couple’s mothers look set to be included too – albeit in the online version.
The move will be seen as a victory for sexual equality, following a cross-party campaign. It had been argued that changing the paper certificates would be too expensive, because 84,000 marriage registers across Britain feature spaces for only the fathers’ names, and would need replacing at a potential cost of £13million. But details of the mothers are to be included in a digital register, removing the cost issue.
It is thought that couples will still receive a marriage certificate on the day – but it remains unclear if it will be in the traditional format or in a new paper version, incorporating the digital details. There had also been campaigning for the terms ‘father’ and ‘mother’ not to be used at all on future certificates – with the word ‘parent’ used for both to ensure neither the ‘ gender fluid’ nor transsexuals were discriminated against.
The rules for certificates were defined in 1837, under Queen Victoria, when the formal national system of registering births, deaths and marriages began.
At the end of 2017, Tory MP Dame Caroline Spelman, the Church of England’s official representative in the Commons, and the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Alan Smith, introduced identical Bills in the Commons and Lords and garnered enough cross-party support to ensure mothers are named.
Supporters include Labour MP Frank Field, former culture secretary Maria Miller, and ex-Lib Dem leader Tim Farron.
Dame Caroline said: ‘This is a Bill to put right something that most people are astonished is
‘Patriarchal institution’
the case … only the father’s name appears on the marriage certificate.’
According to the Sunday Times, a home Office source confirmed the government has already ‘ signed off’ on naming mothers too.
harry Benson of the Marriage Foundation said: ‘ having only the father’s name on the certificate is one reason why people mistakenly think marriage can be a patriarchal institution.’
The Fatherhood Institute’s Adrienne Burgess said the move was ‘long overdue’, but said fathers may be due more prominence on documents held by schools and gPs, where often only the mother is named.