A French woman who stopped having sex with her husband has won a ruling from Europe’s top human rights court, which said she was not to blame for their divorce.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) sided with the 69-year-old on Thursday, saying courts should not consider refusal to have sex as grounds for a fault-based divorce.

The unanimous ruling concluded that France violated the right to respect for private and family life under European human rights law, ending a long-running legal dispute.

The French woman, named HW, celebrated the decision as a step towards ending “rape culture” and promoting consent within marriage.

The case has sparked a debate in France about attitudes to marital consent and women’s rights. Lilia Mhissen, HW’s lawyer, said the judgment abolished outdated concepts of “marital obligations” and called on French courts to bring them into line with modern views on consent and equality.

Feminist groups supporting HW say French judges continue to impose an “outdated view of marriage” that perpetuates harmful stereotypes.

HW lives in Le Chesnay near Paris and married her husband JC in 1984. They had four children, including a disabled daughter who required ongoing care, and HW assumed this responsibility.

Their marital relationship deteriorated after the birth of their first child, and by 1992 HW began to suffer from health problems. In 2002, her husband began to physically and verbally abuse her. After two years, she stopped having sex with him and filed for divorce in 2012.

The woman did not contest the divorce, which she also filed for, but contested the grounds on which the divorce was granted.

In 2019, the Versailles Court of Appeal rejected her complaint and ruled in favor of her husband. France’s highest court later rejected her appeal without explanation. She subsequently filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights in 2021.

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that governments can only intervene in matters such as sex for very serious reasons. It noted that the idea of ​​”marital obligations” in French law ignored the importance of consent in sexual relations.

The court emphasized that consent to marriage does not imply consent to future sexual relations. A suggestion to the contrary would effectively deny that marital rape is a serious crime, the ruling said.

The ruling comes amid growing concerns about consent in France, following the high-profile case of Dominique Pélicot, who drugged his wife and invited men to rape her. Pellicot and 50 men were convicted last month in a case that has raised concerns about how French law handles consent.

Feminist groups believe the ECtHR’s decision reinforces the need to update France’s legal and cultural attitudes.

A recent report by French MPs recommended incorporating the concept of non-consent into the legal definition of rape, stating that consent must be freely given and can be withdrawn at any time.