Marital name-taking a continuum of devaluing women in our society

Hearing that a woman is about to take her husband’s name after marriage is a revelation guaranteed to get my back up. Just what era are we living in, I wonder to myself at such times. What signal does this send out across the genders except to denote a form of handing over of ownership of a key part of your identity?

This name thing is a bugbear to which I have been unable to find a satisfactory answer. I may never do so short of surveying new brides and asking why they are indulging in something so daft. I do also understand there was a time when it was done without question. But this small thing is all part of a continuum surrounding gender issues, some far pressing, all part of how highly women are valued in our society.