French Woman Wins Landmark Ruling on Marital Consent

The decision reflects evolving views on sexual consent and women's rights in France, spotlighting the need for legal reform.

A French woman, known as Ms. H.W., has achieved a significant legal victory in her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which ruled that she should not have been held at fault for her divorce due to her refusal to engage in sexual relations with her husband. The landmark ruling, handed down on Thursday, emphasized her right to respect for private and family life, marking the end of a legal battle that spanned nearly a decade.

The ECHR's unanimous judgment criticized French courts for correlating a spouse's lack of sexual engagement with blame in divorce proceedings. Ms. H.W., now 69, celebrated this decision as a pivotal advancement in combating "rape culture" and advancing the concept of consent within marriage. The ruling has ignited discussions in France regarding marital consent, women's rights, and the outdated views surrounding "marital duty."

Lilia Mhissen, the lawyer for Ms. H.W., hailed the decision as a dismantling of antiquated notions regarding marital obligations, calling for the French judiciary to adopt more progressive perspectives on consent and gender equality. Women's rights advocates echoed this sentiment, arguing that French legal practices have too often reflected an outdated and damaging perspective on marriage that perpetuates misogynistic stereotypes.

Ms. H.W. married JC in 1984 and they had four children, one of whom was born with a disability requiring constant care, a duty she undertook primarily. However, the couple's marital relationship soured following the birth of their first child. By 1992, Ms. H.W. began to face health challenges, and in 2002, her husband reportedly began physically and verbally abusing her. Two years later, she ceased sexual relations and subsequently filed for divorce in 2012.

While she did not contest the divorce itself, Ms. H.W. challenged the characterization of her actions, leading to a legal dispute about the grounds for her divorce. An appeal in 2019 favoring her husband was initially upheld by France's highest court without a detailed rationale. Frustrated, she escalated her case to the ECHR in 2021.

The ECHR's ruling reaffirmed that government intervention in personal sexual matters should occur only under serious circumstances, arguing that the concept of "marital duties" in French law fails to acknowledge the fundamental role of consent in sexual interactions. The court noted that entering marriage does not imply consent to future sexual acts and reinforced that disregarding this is tantamount to denying the severity of marital rape.

This ruling emerges amid rising scrutiny of consent-related issues in France, inspired by the recent trial of Dominique Pélicot, who infamously drugged his wife to let others rape her. Following convictions against him and an aggregation of 50 accomplices, the case has raised critical discussions about consent's treatment in French law.

Feminist groups see the ECHR's decision as a catalyst for urgent legal reforms and shifts in societal attitudes accompanying them. A recent report by French lawmakers recommended explicit inclusion of non-consent within the legal definition of rape, advocating for the principle that consent must be freely given and may be revoked at any moment.