WOMEN IN FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 275, 16 August 1932, Page 6

WOMEN IN FRANCE

Improving Their Status AIMS OF A BILL The suppression of the law of obedience, the right to keep her correspondence private, and freedom to start her own business, adopt a profession, or go to law without the consent of her husband were among the important reforms in woman’s status introduced by a Bill which the Minister of Justice deposited in the French Senate recently» The position of women being still regulated by the Code Napoleon, the present Government considers It is time that the laws were changed. The new measures aim at a complete revolution in the legal relationship of the sexes. The principle of conjugal obedience is now practically abandoned. Man and wife in future will enjoy equal rights in almost every sphere of their activity. Besides the advantages already enumerated, the married woman will henceforth have her own passport and her own identity card. She will be able to open a banking account, bequeath or inherit, sign leases and Insurance policies, pay rent, cash a cheque, bring or defend a legal action, and generally conduct her own affairs independently of marital control. She will, in fact, enjoy all the liberty which has hitherto been the exclusive privilege of her unmarried sister or widowed mother. As regards the marriage relationship the mutual duties prescribed by law remain unchanged in respect of fidelity, aid and assistance, and the upkeep and the education of the children. But for Article 231, which declares that ‘‘the husband owes protection to his wife and the wife obedience to the husband,” is substituted “the couple are bound to live together; the husband has the right of choosing the residence for tlie famly.” On certain questions where disagreement between the husband and wife would involve a schism in the family the husband retains the preponderant say. For instance, it is still the father who has the principal powers over the children, though the parents are expected as much as possible to exercise their authority equally. The husband, moreover, has the right to reQuest the court to restrict the powers of bis wife in this respect. . As regards their respective fortunes, unless there is a marriage contract, busband and wife henceforth will each control and dispose of their own wealth: on the dissolution of the marriage their joint possessions will be valued and divided. The present reforms are the most important introduced in French marriage laws since 1804. _____