Forced Marriage Policy in France

Project overview

At the start of his presidency in 2017, Emmanuel Macron announced that violence against women (VAW) would be a key national priority. While public awareness of VAW increased and legislation was in place, VAW levels have remained high. Gender-based violence takes different forms. Some, such as domestic violence, are experienced in all social groups, while others, such as forced marriage, occur among particular populations. It is important to understand these specific forms of violence, while opposing the vilification of the communities in which they take place. To do this is particularly challenging in France where equality is ‘protected’ by denying the existence of difference between individuals and refusing to recognise communities. Therefore, it is difficult to discuss and address issues specific to certain groups. This research focused on the relation between French forced marriage policy and the women and girls in, or at risk of, forced marriage. The research took place in the Paris region, Montpellier and Strasbourg, all of which have active and coordinated networks on forced marriage, mostly initiated and sustained by highly motivated feminists working within or outside state institutions, large NGOs and smaller feminist and migrant civil society organisations. The research found:

• Where coordinated networks of state and non-state actors exist, they play an essential role in forced marriage protection and prevention;
• Civil society organisations, especially feminist and migrant women’s organisations, are the main actors in forced marriage policy implementation. They also provide a channel for the voices of those affected to be heard in policy debate and formulation.
• Gender-based violence is both a cause and a consequence of gender inequality, and the eradication of the former depends on the successful elimination of the latter.

Outputs

• Policy brief (distributed to relevant stakeholders in the research sites and to the French Government’s Services des Droits des Femmes et de l’Égalité entre les Femmes et les Hommes.
• Allwood, G. and Wadia, K. (2020) ‘Forced marriage and gender transformation: Feminist, state and civil society networks at the local level’, French Politics, 18: 132-152.
• Allwood, G. and Wadia, K. (2024) ‘Forced marriage and gender transformation: Feminist, state and civil society networks at the local level’, in E. Engeli and A. G. Mazur, When gender equality policies in practice matter: A comparative study in France, Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature.