Caroline Lucas has urged couples to squeeze their mothers’ names onto marriage certificates while they wait for the Government to provide an official space on the form for them.
The Brighton Pavilion MP was speaking about the plans on Monday’s Woman’s Hour on Radio 4, and her attempts to get movement on her proposals, which David Cameron approved in June last year.
She accused the Government of “dragging its heels” by offering excuses as to why it was taking so long and offered to go in and change the forms themselves if they were finding it too difficult.
But in the meantime, she urged brides and grooms to include their mothers’ names on the forms anyway in an act of “mass civil disobedience”.
She said: “We are talking about changing a form. They have said there are 80,000 registers in use, and therefore it would be an expensive thing to do to suddenly change them overnight. If that’s the case, let’s phase it in.
“It really doesn’t seen to be rocket science. It’s not the biggest battle out there it is still symptomatic of a culture which writes women out of history. ”
When presenter Jane Garvey asked whether people could just write it in themselves, she said: “There’s no room on the form to do that but that’s not to say you couldn’t just write it.
“We should have a mass civil disobedience campaign of just writing it in until they get the message that this has to be done.
“Can I suggest as of today, people getting married write in themselves on their marriage certificates the name of their mothers.”
The programme also included a statement from the Home Office which said: “We are continuing to develop the options that will allow mothers’ names to be include on marriage certificates as soon as practically possible.”
Can you just
Ms Lucas’s original early day motion was signed by 115 MPs
Good to see the Brighton Pavilion MP firmly on the pulse of the major issues at the moment – The globla economy and austerity? The dangers from ISIL? The future of the NHS? Russia expansion and support of Syria? Dangers to the environment?
No – this pillar of responsibility wants mother’s to use ‘civil disobedience’ to get the mother’s names on to marriage certificates. Well I suppose it is better than her sitting in the road or her colleagues protesting by climbing trees.