PARIS, France — French lawmakers on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill that seeks to end the concept of “marital duty,” following criticism from women’s rights groups over its use to undermine sexual consent within marriage.
More than 120 members of parliament backed the measure in the lower house National Assembly. The bill clarifies in the civil code that cohabitation does not create any obligation for spouses to engage in sexual relations.
The proposed legislation will next go to the Senate for consideration.
The French civil code currently lists four duties attached to marriage — fidelity, support, assistance, and cohabitation — but it does not mention any sexual obligation.
Despite this, past court rulings sometimes interpreted cohabitation as implying a shared bed, allowing the notion of a “marital duty” to persist in legal practice.
In 2019, a French court granted a man a divorce after ruling that his wife’s refusal to have sex constituted fault.
Last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of the woman, stating that a spouse who refuses sexual relations should not be considered at fault in divorce proceedings.
France last year incorporated the principle of consent into its legal definition of rape, aligning its law with reforms adopted in other European countries, including the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden.
