EQUITY WATCH : Name Game

In one episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” Mary discovered that she earned much less as a TV producer than had the man before her. She fumed, then stormed into Mr. Grant’s office demanding a raise. After she earnestly argued her case, her boss paused, astonished, and then sputtered, “But Mary, he was a man!”

Such flawless logic apparently lives on in Utah. After her 1988 divorce, Wendy Jean Alldredge wanted to change the last name on her driver’s license from her former husband’s name to Alldredge--the name she was born with. Fine, the Utah Driver License Division told her, you just need permission from your former husband.

Although she never considered herself a feminist, “This rubbed me the wrong way, to say the least,” Alldredge said. Like other states, Utah allows a name change at the time of divorce. However, Utah’s license division requires that the divorce decree be amended for a name change--and such an amendment requires an ex-husband’s consent. The division insists its rule is not sexist; rather it is intended to prevent creation of fraudulent identification cards.

Yet Alldredge legally changed the name on her tax return, Social Security card, even her auto registration--all without her former husband’s permission.

She sued the state license division, charging discrimination against divorced women, but a U.S. district court and an appeals court recently rejected her claim. Alldredge will continue her fight in state court. We hope she prevails. This story rubs us the wrong way, too. To say the least.