Women’s rights: in Monaco, changes to be expected regarding legislation
If it is more about form than substance, it is indeed a further step towards equality between men and women in Monaco which was taken on Thursday evening during the legislative session.
The elected members of the National Council have indeed adopted a government bill, drawn up within the framework of the Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Women’s Rights, the objective of which is to modify and repeal obsolete or unequal provisions in with regard to women, and which have been designated in all the codes and non-codified provisions of Monegasque law. A semantic update, in more than 50 articles that is much more than a symbol.
“This updating of the legal provisions contributes to continuing the construction of the edifice of women’s rights and to bringing the Principality into line with the evolution of society and, at the international level, in accordance with the recommendations of the United Nations” reminded Minister of State Pierre Dartout.
12,000 legal texts analyzed
For three years, government services therefore analyzed nearly 12,000 legal and legislative texts in order to identify legal expressions that had become, over time, obsolete for semantic or scientific reasons. And in total, 85 provisions and texts are subject to modification or deletion.
The bill that the government has submitted to the elected representatives of the High Assembly proposes to update various references according to the evolution of the law, such as the abolition of the provisions relating to the old dotal regime or authorizing the capacity of the married woman. He also suggests replacing certain gendered statements with other expressions: for example the notion of “a good family’s father” by “reasonable person”.
The notion of “a good family’s father”
It is around this concept that part of the discussions of the elected officials focused, as explained by Brigitte Boccone-Pages, rapporteur of the bill on behalf of the Commission for the Rights of Women and the Family. “According to traditional jurisprudence, the good father is the one who acts in the context of the conversation, the administration or the enjoyment of the property of others, in a prudent, diligent and prudent manner, being mindful of the interests of others, as if they were his own. It will therefore be noted that all these qualities are not found in the only reasonable action.
For elected officials, it is therefore difficult to reduce this notion to the adverb alone.reasonably”. Several amendments have therefore been made in this regard.
Thomas Brezzo notably took the floor to specify that he had offered to replace “a good family’s father” by “good family parent” or even”good mother”.
Emphasizing his deep attachment to equality between women and men, he also believes that the bill could have gone even further and was part of his intention to abstain from the start of his speech.
Finally, the text will therefore be adopted by 18 votes in favor and one abstention.
For Brigitte Boccone-Pages, “Elected officials could only welcome the objective pursued by this text. Indeed, whether it is a question of the fight against violence and sexual assault, professional diversity, the march towards equal pay, the status of the head of household or even maternity and paternity leave, the National Council works with determination to make concrete legislative changes and help to assess mentalities. This text is an important step in that direction.”