Monegasque law strengthens protection of women’s rights

12,000 pieces of legislation were analysed to amend or repeal unfair or obsolete provisions.

“Pater Familias Bonus “. The term, meaning ‘good father’, equating to ‘reasonable person’ in other countries, is used both in the legal field and in everyday language, and was at the heart of the debate in the National Council on Thursday 5 May.

Advertising »

Bill No. 1029, on the promotion and protection of women’s rights through the amendment and repeal of obsolete and unfair provisions, presented by Brigitte Boccone-Pagès, proposes in particular the replacement of the stereotypical “good father” by legally neutral references.

SEE ALSO: Brigitte Boccone-Pagès, Vice-President of the National Council, receives Legion of Honour

The change is part of the extensive work begun by the Government of Monaco in March 2019, at the very first meeting of the committee for the promotion and protection of women’s rights. 12,000 pieces of legislation have since been analysed to amend or repeal “unfair or obsolete” provisions for legal, semantic or scientific reasons.

“We are therefore about to vote on a bill that is part of a long and difficult project, that of building perfect equality between women and men in both law and practice”, stressed Council President Stéphane Valeri.  “Even if this bill represents an essentially symbolic advance (…) it is still another step in the right direction.”

All 56 articles of the bill were adopted. The bill was passed with 18 votes in favour and one abstention. The Minister of State, Pierre Dartout, also indicated that the Government of Monaco had welcomed all the suggested amendments: “This large-scale legislative modernisation work covers Monegasque law in its entirety. (…) This demonstrates, once again, that promoting and protecting women’s rights is a responsibility for all of us.”