30 years ago, married women won right to keep names
1:09 PM Mon, Jul 27, 2009 | Permalink
Email
 |
 |
Projo 7 to 7 News BlogTaking the news pulse of Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, by Providence Journal and projo.com staff, from 7 to 7, every business day |
|
Get the 7 to 7 on your mobile at www.projo.com. Twitter: projo | RSS | Email alerts
« N. Providence sold portable office it didn't own |
Main
| Station fire settlement payments still months away »
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- It was 30 years ago today that women gained --- in the eyes of the law --- the right to decide what name to use in registering a car once they were married. Until then, women had to take their husband's names. Requiring married women to use their husbands' names, said the state registrar of motor vehicles at the time, Eugene Petit, "is in the best interest of the safety of the community. It will keep bad drivers off the road and give us better control of the registry." Petit, whose comments were including in the landmark state Supreme Court case Traugott v. Petit, called the requirement "patriotic." "Listen," Petit is quoted as saying, "I respect gals in every phase. I hope they just respect society in this." To the ACLU and the women --- and supportive men -- for whom they filed suit, the matter was a simple one: "The very least you can have in this damned life is your own name." That's how Sheila Cabral-Sousa, the volunteer lawyer who successfully litigated the case for the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, summed up the case at the time. The ACLU issued a press release Monday recalling the anniversary, and adding: ""It is true that the past thirty years have seen many victories for women's rights. ... However, the struggle against gender-based discrimination continues to this day in the fight for equal pay for equal work and similar issues. A look at some of the comments made by public officials only 30 years ago in this case serves as a stark reminder that gains for women's rights remain of recent vintage and, therefore, remain far from complete." 
CommentsLeave a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish. |
Tags 
New comments
New photos
New posts
Projo blogs
Archives
The radical left and their drones in the media continue to spread the lie that women are treated differently than men.
Women have more rights and privileges than men. They possess the rights to an abortion without notification of her husband, the right to not sign up for the draft, and the right to take maternity leave. Almost 40% more bachelor's degrees go to women than men. Women receive more law, medical, and Ph.D's than men.
Can we please stop spreading this Marxist fallacy yet? The only purpose it serves is the typical liberal agenda of pitting demographic groups against each other for political gain.
Report Abuse
Thank you, ACLU. Keep up the good fight.
Report Abuse
I don't remember this. I was 5 years out of high school at that time and must have been otherwise occupied.
Mr. Petit seemed to be completely out of touch and his comment "the safety of the community" along with calling women "gals" makes me glad those days are pretty much behind us. I had to both laugh and shake my head in disbelief while reading that.
Thanks to Sheila Cabral-Sousa, she must have been one ticked-off woman. While not always a fan of the ACLU, their comments are spot-on regarding women's rights!
Report Abuse
For how many years have the good people of Rhode Island footed a whopping pension for this intellectual giant?
I hope Petit finally got over the little girl with pigtails who dumped him in the second grade.
Report Abuse
How many divorced women rush to probate court after the divorce to take back their maiden names??? If they didn't take their husband's name, as their own, at the wedding, the cost and nusance of the re-taking of one's name would be unnecessary! Thank you Ms Cabral-Sousa. I would guess that Mr Petit is long retired. His retirement makes our communities safer!
Report Abuse
Whoa..Sick of the Lies!!! You need to swallow a great big chill pill and stop spreading the lies yourself!
Or, at the very least, try to lighten up on your dislike of women. You might want to keep that to yourself!
Report Abuse
Even all those years ago, women did not have to "rush to probate court after the divorce to take back their maiden names." During the settlement, then as now, women could/can specify then that they want/ed to return to their former/maiden names.
Report Abuse
I wonder what Mr. Petit was thinking. "Keep bad drivers off the road"? "Patriotic"? Did the R.I. Attorney General's office actually submit a brief attempting to justify this nonsense?
Report Abuse