According to Xinhua News Agency , on October 30, the 37th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress reviewed and passed the newly revised Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests. Before the revision of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, there were 9 chapters and 61 articles. After this revision, it was increased to 10 chapters and 86 articles in total. The law will come into effect on January 1, 2023.
Relevant experts said that this revision incorporates the basic national policy of equality between men and women into the national education system, improves relevant government guarantee measures, and further improves the system and mechanism for preventing and dealing with sexual harassment and sexual assault.
related experts told Red Star News reporter that compared with the current Women's Rights Protection Law, the Women's Rights Protection Law has many highlights after multiple rounds of revisions. In addition to providing a legal basis for judicial judges to define the facts of sexual harassment, it also strengthens the protection of fairness in women's workplace. At the same time, the provision of details such as "standardized" public toilets and maternal and child rooms also fully reflects the humanistic care of the law.
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Women's Rights Protection Law Third Review
Provisions "standardized" public toilets and maternal and infant rooms, etc., have attracted attention
After the review of the two submitted for review in December 2021 and April 2022, the draft amendment to the Women's Rights Protection Law was submitted for review for the third time on October 27 at the 37th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress, and was reviewed and passed on October 30.
According to China News Network , Guo Linmao, director of the Social Law Office of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, pointed out that this revision has four main highlights: fully implements the basic national policy of equality between men and women, and continuously enriches the content of the system for protecting women's rights and interests. Strengthen special protection in accordance with the characteristics of women's work and the requirements for the development of women's career in the new era. Improve relevant government guarantee measures and strengthen the guarantee responsibilities of women's federations and other relevant parties. Advocate the whole society to respect and care for women, and encourage and support women to strengthen themselves.
It is reported that the society has always paid great attention to the revision of the Women's Rights Protection Law. The revised draft has solicited opinions online twice, and received more than 400,000 and more than 300,000 opinions respectively. It is one of the legal drafts with the largest number of opinions in recent years.
"As a woman, I personally pay more attention to the protection of women in the workplace." Ms. Yang, 33, told the Red Star News reporter that although there are many laws and regulations to prevent gender differences in employment, there are still restrictions on women in actual employment, especially women will encounter many practical problems before and after the childbirth period, including actual limitations such as job search and promotion. "So I will pay attention to the revised Women's Rights Protection Law, whether there will be some revisions in this regard."
Red Star News reporter noticed that this revision has many details that reflect the humanistic care for women. Among them, the third draft of the revised draft uses public toilets and maternal and child rooms that meet women's needs as public facilities, which also reflects humanistic care.
focuses on female workplace fairness
Expert: employment gender discrimination will be supervised and corrected in accordance with the law
Women's workplace fairness has always attracted much attention. Many women will also encounter gender restrictions in their job search process, and are asked about their marriage and childbirth status during interviews, and are transferred to marginal positions after pregnancy.
Red Star News reporter noticed that in terms of improving labor and social security rights, the newly revised Women's Rights Protection Law stipulates that it eliminates employment gender discrimination, clarifys the specific circumstances of employment gender discrimination, and includes employment gender discrimination in the scope of labor security supervision . It stipulates the relevant responsibilities for protecting the rights and interests of female employees in employers, and clarifies that the labor (employment) contract or service agreement should include relevant content for protecting the rights and interests of female employees. A reporter from Red Star News learned that this includes that in the recruitment (employment) process of employers shall not perform the following behaviors unless otherwise specified by the state: limiting to men or prescription for men; further inquiring or investigating the marriage and childbirth status of female job seekers in addition to personal basic information; using pregnancy tests as entry physical examination items; restricting marriage, childbirth, marriage, and childbirth status as conditions for registration (employment); and other behaviors that refuse to register (employment) women on the grounds of gender or differentiately increase the standards for women to register (employment).
In this regard, Professor of China University of Political Science and Law and President of the Marriage and Family Law Research Association of the Chinese Law Society Xia Yinlan told the Red Star News reporter that compared with the current laws, the Women's Rights Protection Law, which has been revised many times, will inevitably deepen in ensuring fairness in women's workplace. "During the process of women's employment, the employer often asks about the marriage and children's situation during interviews. This seems to have become a 'unspoken rule' for many employers. After this revision, if women encounter such situations again, if the evidence is sufficient, they can use legal means to protect themselves. Human resources and social security departments, and they can join the trade union and the women's federation to interview employers, supervise them in accordance with the law and require them to correct within a time limit."
During the revision process, a new system for childbirth leave for women was added. The revised law stipulates that employers shall not reduce the wages and welfare benefits of female employees due to marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave, breastfeeding, etc., restrict female employees from promoting, upgrading, evaluating professional and technical titles and positions, dismissing female employees, and unilaterally terminate the labor (employment) contract or service agreement. In response, Xia Yinlan said that this article was not clearly stipulated in the law before, and the addition of such laws will further protect women's rights and interests in employment.
focuses on marriage and family rights
Men can no longer be "hands-off boss"
Red Star News reporter noticed that in addition to this, this revision has made corresponding modifications in improving cultural and educational rights, improving property rights, improving marriage and family rights, and improving legal responsibilities.
In terms of improving marriage and family rights, the newly revised Women's Rights Protection Law stipulates that the state encourages premarital physical examinations and clearly states that marriage registration authorities should provide marriage and family counseling services. At the same time, it is stipulated that women have the right to require the recording of their names and other rights over the joint property of their husband and wife. In addition, the system of joint property inquiry during divorce litigation is stipulated.
10月30日，中国法学会婚姻家庭法学研究会副会长、中华女子学院教授李明舜告诉红星新闻记者，对于夫妻共同财产、女性在家庭劳动中的劳动价值等问题，民法典也有相应规定，但是此次妇女权益保障法大修，将其进行进一步明确，是法律为了保护妇女权益而作出的进一步规定和细化。
"The Civil Code stipulates the definition of common property of husband and wife and defines the scope of common property. However, in real life, the female part of shared property of husband and wife is more susceptible to infringement, and the rights and interests of women when divorce are more difficult to protect." Li Mingshun said that the Civil Code has made certain progress compared to the provisions of Marriage Law . This time, the overhaul of the Women's Rights Protection Law further improves and refines the spirit of the Civil Code and writes relevant laws into the Women's Rights Protection Law. Among them, there are four aspects of progress:
First, it is clear that women enjoy equal rights to possess, use, income and dispose of the common property of the couple with their spouses, and are not affected by the income status of both parties. This is a further reflection and deepening of the spirit of equality between men and women in the Civil Code. Second, for real estate jointly owned by the couple and movable property that can be registered jointly, the woman has the right to require the record of her name on the ownership certificate. In reality, there are many cases where the man's name is only recorded. This law is also a protection of the woman's power. Third, during the divorce lawsuit, both spouses have the obligation to declare all the common property of the spouse to the people's court. Fourth, it is actually a guarantee for Article 3. During the divorce lawsuit, if one spouse applies for inquiry about the property status registered in the other party’s name and cannot collect it on its own due to objective reasons, it also stipulates that the people’s court should conduct investigations and evidence collection, and relevant departments and units should provide assistance. This is also a kind of protection for women.
After this overhaul, the Women's Rights Protection Law also clarifies that both husband and wife should jointly assume family obligations and take care of family life together. If the woman bears more obligations for raising children, caring for the elderly, assisting the man in work, etc., she has the right to ask the man to compensate during divorce. The compensation method is agreed upon by both parties. If no agreement is reached, a lawsuit may be filed with the people's court.
In response to this, Li Mingshun told the Red Star News reporter that Article 68 stipulates that both husband and wife should jointly bear family obligations and jointly take care of family life. This also means that men can no longer be "hands-off bosses" at home, but instead clearly states that they need to bear family obligations with women.
Li Mingshun said that in real life, women often assume more raising children, taking care of their parents, and taking on housework in their families. The law clearly stipulates that "if a woman has a greater obligation for raising children, caring for the elderly, and assisting the man in work, she has the right to ask the man to compensate during divorce." "Compared with general social labor, this kind of care for the family requires not only physical and mental strength, but also emotionality. This social value cannot be ignored."
focuses on preventing sexual harassment
Lawyer: Provides a legal basis for judicial judgments to define the facts of sexual harassment
It is understood that this overhaul of the Women's Rights Protection Law will further improve the system and mechanism for preventing and dealing with sexual harassment and sexual assault on the basis of prohibiting sexual harassment on women.
Director of Hangzhou Lawyers Association , Senior Partner of Zhejiang Zhiren Law Firm , Huang Xinfa is very concerned about the revision of the Women's Rights Protection Law. He has summarized 82 judgment documents related to workplace sexual harassment.
Through the analysis of the cases, Huang Xinfa found that the number of cases involving sexual harassment he has studied since 2010 has fluctuated and rising. This is not only related to the frequent occurrence of sexual harassment in the workplace, but also related to the fact that the victimized female employees have a stronger willingness to protect their rights. But he also said that through the analysis of the cases, it was found that there were still many difficulties in these cases, such as the difficulty in unifying the definition standards for sexual harassment, the difficulty in determining facts, and the difficulty in receiving compensation from victims.
Huang Xinfa told the Red Star News reporter that the revision of the Women's Rights Protection Law clearly states that "it is prohibited to commit sexual harassment against women through words, words, images, physical behaviors, etc. against women." This can help define the facts of sexual harassment in judicial judgments, and also provide reference for the improvement of relevant systems within the enterprise.
Huang Xinfa believes that the previous second-instance draft has increased the responsibilities that employers may bear if they fail to fulfill their obligation to prevent and control sexual harassment in the workplace, mainly administrative penalties for and public interest litigation. "This time it is clear that if the relevant units have not taken reasonable measures to prevent and stop sexual harassment, the procuratorate may file a public interest lawsuit in accordance with the law, which is also an important legal guarantee for preventing sexual harassment in women in the workplace."
Red Star News Reporter Zhang Yanliang Special correspondent Shui Ning
Editor Deng Xiaoguang Editor Zhang Li
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