Thursday, April 29, 2010

Ms. or Mrs.?

On my morning commute the other day, I was reading the Boston Metro and came across an article titled Take your husbands name- and lose money. It was just a quick article, which warns that taking your husband's name will "harm your career".

The article goes on to state that women who take their husband's last name are judged as "more dependent and less ambitious" and "less intelligent and competent" than women who keep their maiden names.

It quotes a statistic from a study in the current issue of Basic and Applied Social Psychology, stating women who take their husband's last name earn nearly $1,500.00 less per month. I wonder what types of women were polled in this survey which came up with these statistics. I feel it is more common in certain industries to keep your maiden name. I know many lawyers that feel that they have spent so much time building a name for themselves, they decide to either keep their maiden name, or at least keep it professionaly. I think it would be interesting to see if it has different effects in different fields.

Has your career made an impact on your decision of whether or not to keep your maiden name? Do you think people would judge you for taking your husbands name?

3 comments:

amber said...

Correlation does not imply causation.

Are women apt to make less money once they change their name?

Or are more driven woman apt to keep their name after marriage?

I'd say driven women should not be afraid to change their names. And women who aren't as driven: don't think that keeping your own name is going to earn you a $1000 pay raise ;)

Mrs. Wedding Crasher said...

Thanks for sharing this. I had never heard of this issue ... I will have to research it.

Nicole-Lynn said...

That's interesting! I am not in my career yet, and I couldn't imagine not taking my fiance's last name when we're married... so yes, I'll be doing just that :)