We’re doing something wrong in promoting gender equality and I think it starts all the way back to how we name babies. We have a patrilineal naming tradition that asserts to a baby girl that her father is more important than her mother. To me this is the beginning of gender inequality.
As my daughter is now expecting my first grandchild and it is to be a girl, I want her to start life thinking that she is just as important as any boy who is born. To do that I’m advocating a new tradition that a girl’s last name be the same as her mother’s last name.
I’ve written an essay that got published in the Globe and Mail today. It explains a new solution to stop gender inequality at birth.
Pass it on and be a part of a new trend towards true gender equality.
Interesting idea, as always Charles. I like it, it make sense to me. In the short term (ie. first few generations) until this gets more generally adopted, I wonder how often Wilhelmina Plant will have to explain to friends and teachers that William Quinn the Fourth REALLY IS her brother.
Cheers, Tom.