10,000 signatures reached
To: The UK Government
Update the information requirements on marriage certificates!
We would like them to include the mother's name and profession on a marriage certificate. If that is possible, then ideally each person could choose to include information for only one parent if they so wish.
Why is this important?
As it stands, only the father's name and 'rank or profession' is needed on a marriage certificate. We believe this is archaic; a father's name and profession was important when marriage was seen as the passing of a possession (the woman) from one man (the father) to another (the husband). This is no longer the case.
If the information is necessary for public record, then the mother's name and profession should be included too. Mothers play as vital a part in their children's upbringing as men do (and sometimes more...) and this should be reflected in modern marriage certificates.
Ideally a person would be able to include information for only one parent if they so wish. Having to include a parent with whom one does not have a good relationship on something as significant as a marriage certificate can be unnecessarily upsetting.
