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If you are married, how do you refer to yourself: Ms. or Mrs.? When you receive a wedding invitation addressed to Mr. and Mrs. O'Neill, or Mr. and Mrs. John O'Neill, or even to Mrs. John O'Neill, do you rejoice in the way whose marital status you have highlighted, or do you consider it an antediluvian relic that makes you want to scream?
Anyway, you have to correct or, depending on the origin, perhaps subtly suggest a reformulation of how you should be treated.
But what if the state identifies you by the fact that you are married? This sees you not as an individual but as a "wife". Then what?
Wedding bar
Ireland, like other countries around the world, has a mixed history in the way it treated women. In the 1930s, the marriage bar forced women to leave the public service after marriage. The practice has extended to many private companies too.
Although this ended in 1973, more subtle acts of discrimination continued. Traditionally, women entitled to a "qualified adult" payment because of their spouse's social benefits, such as the state pension, felt that the payment was made directly into their spouse's bank account, and then only if husband wished it. Incredibly, this practice was not changed in law until the 2007 Social Assistance and Retirement Act.
More recently, women have been given conditions to qualify for a full state pension because of the ridiculous situation of having worked for a few years – or even less in some cases – before they to leave their jobs to raise their families.
"W"
The government is now trying to unravel the unfairness inherent in pensions. But discrimination has not even been referred to the past.
Historically, when a woman gets married in Ireland, she often badumes her husband's tax reference number or personal service number. A "W" was added at the end of the husband's number, indicating that she was the "wife" of the person with a tax number.
This is explained by the fact that Revenue used the "W" number to identify spouses who had been jointly badessed for tax purposes. The economic support, which at the time the practice began would have been largely the husband, had his own PPS number. The spouse, usually the wife, received the "W", linking it to the spouse to whom the tax was charged to the common income.
So, for example, if the husband's tax identification number was 1234567A, his wife would have got a PPS number of 1234567AW when they got married.
As a wife, and therefore most likely unpaid, the state at the time did not consider you as guaranteeing your own PPS number.
Life has changed so much since then, but the unfair use of these "W" numbers persists. The practice of offering such numbers has only stopped in 1999 – it's not even 20 years old. And, by October of this year, about 83,601 women still had such a PPS number, according to the Ministry of Employment and Social Protection.
Many of these women now have a full income. According to the tax authorities, about 72% of "W" number holders – about 60,000 women – are also taxpayers.
The figures will continue to be used, the ministry said, until it is necessary to change them or until someone chooses to change his.
Get your own number
Sometimes an event of life will precipitate such a change. It may be necessary to modify it for local property tax reasons, or if you receive an inheritance and must pay a tax bill on capital purchases, explains Revenue. Separation, the death of a spouse or a civil partnership are other life events that may require a person to obtain his or her own PPS number.
Alternatively, you can look for a change yourself. According to the department, if you have a "W" PPS number, you have the right to ask for your own number. And you will not have to go through the same application process as to get a PPS number in the first place.
You can get a new number or be returned to your old pre-wedding number, if applicable, by contacting the Client Identity section of the Department of Employment and Social Protection. The telephone number is (071) 967 2616 or call 1890 927 999.
This is the easy part, though. Once you have obtained your new number, you must inform all organizations that may hold your old number, such as your employer, your banks, the national driver's license service, the HSE and the Revenue Service, to only a few examples.
It is a tedious task that many women involved, some of whom are at the age of death, may not be up to the task.
Would it not be appropriate for the department to be at this stage to facilitate the process as a whole for these 80,000 women?
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