Our series on forgotten advances in women's rights in four episodes
:
Until 2005 ... women had to wait 300 days before remarrying
Until 2006… the minimum age of marriage was still 15 for women
Until 2016 ... periodic protection was not a basic need (March 1)
Until 2017 ... the clitoris was banned from SVT manuals (March 2)
Article 144 of the Civil Code: "a man and a woman cannot contract marriage before the age of eighteen".
Obvious for a long time?
Absolutely not.
Before the law of April 4, 2006, which amended this article, the minimum age was still set at 15 for girls, and for them only.
Marriage was in fact reserved for adult men only, unlike women whose minority was not an obstacle to such a commitment.
“Yes, not long ago, a teenage girl could quite possibly get married in France.
For a long time, this did not shock anyone.
Some people said to themselves
after all the sexual majority is at 15 years, so they can very well get married.
All this was imbued with the underlying idea that girls are said to be "more mature" than boys at a young age, understand: they have their periods so can have children ", decrypts, bluntly, Me Magali Gibert, lawyer at the Paris Bar, specializing in family property law.
A measure in contradiction with the United Nations convention
"They were especially" more mature "to meet the needs of a man, not for their own autonomy", also jokes Caroline Rebhi, co-president of Family Planning.
Legacy of an archaic era when marriage was often arranged, how could such discrimination last for so long?
When the law of July 5, 1974 lowers the age of civil majority from 21 to 18, France misses the mark of an evolution towards more equality by maintaining a distinction for the marital majority… to the detriment of girls.
15 years for her, 18 years for him.
And the signing of the United Nations convention of December 18, 1979, on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, does not change the case.
Entered into force in French law in 1981, the document nonetheless stipulates that States “take all necessary measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters arising from marriage and in family relations and, in particular, to ensure, on the basis of equality between men and women, the same right to contract marriage ”.
Nothing.
Until the subject came to the Senate in 2005.
Raising the age of marriage for women is one of the means of combating forced marriages.
LP / Aurélie Ladet
The upper house of Parliament unanimously adopted an amendment raising the minimum age for marriage for women from 15 to 18 years.
The text, tabled by UMP senator Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam, aimed to end discrimination which "undermines the republican principle of equality", motivated the senator.
“The equality was quite relative.
The first motive was not to put boys and girls on the same level but above all to prevent forced marriages of which they were mostly victims.
Underage, young girls could not say no.
By raising the age of marriage to 18, the legislator wanted to protect them, ”explains Magali Gibert.
70,000 young girls threatened by forced marriage
In France, the latest figure estimating the number of young girls threatened by such a project dates from 2003. They would be 70,000 according to a report from the High Council for Integration.
“This 2006 measure is also a way to fight against early pregnancy and marital rape, but it does not solve the whole problem, deplores Caroline Rebhi.
Forced marriages still exist today.
Essentially traditional marriages organized in the country of origin of the families of these young French people.
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- I want it !
(@Jeleveux_) December 21, 2020
An INED / INSEE study published in 2011 estimated that the phenomenon, which mainly concerns immigrants from Turkey, the Maghreb and Sahelian Africa, is however tending to decrease.
Family Planning also addresses the subject during its interventions in colleges or high schools.
“I have heard young people tell me
I'm afraid that will happen to me,
recognizes Caroline Rebhi
.
I have already noticed that a young girl had not returned from vacation in September and it happened to me to make reports to the Prosecutor to block an exit of territory.
And that, anyone can do it.
"