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The move comes as the country’s birth rate has remained at its lowest level since at least 1978.
China would ban employers from stating gender priorities in job advertisements or asking women applicants about their marriage and pregnancy status under a nearly three-decade review of women’s rights law.
The nation’s top legislature began examining a draft amendment to the Women’s Rights and Interests Protection Act on Monday as part of a five-day meeting ending Friday. The legislation was in its first reading before the Standing Committee of the National People’s Assembly and could be passed as soon as next year.
Although gender discrimination is already illegal in China, current laws are vague and result in poor enforcement. The revised draft would provide explicit descriptions and provide a more detailed legal overview of issues such as sexual harassment, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Employers will be ordered to put in place mechanisms to prevent, investigate and respond to these complaints, according to a report by the China News Service, although the legal consequences of not doing so were unclear.
Despite China’s crackdown on the local #MeToo movement as a tool for spreading liberal values in the West, more and more women have publicly spoken out about sexual assault experiences in recent years, confronting a patriarchal culture that often shames victims. Earlier this month, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. released a woman who had previously allegedly sexually assaulted a manager in a high-profile case.
Women job seekers have identified a broad spectrum of employment discrimination on Chinese social media and in the courts, including being forced to sign a pledge not to become pregnant as a condition of hiring, Human Rights Watch reported in June. One in five public service jobs in China in 2019 was a priority for male applicants, the report found.
Pressure on women workers
China’s decision in May to allow couples to have a third child, at least the lowest birth rate since 1978, has put additional pressure on women workers, HRW said.
“The current law on the protection of women’s rights and interests needs to be further expanded and strengthened,” He Yiting, an official with the NPC’s Committee on Social Development Affairs, told Legal Daily.
Under the changes, educational institutions would not be able to reject female applications or lower male students ’requirements to meet gender quotas. In rural areas, women should have a salary and land benefits, the bill says, adding that violators could be prosecuted.
However, the amendments state that exceptions may be made to national guidelines for school or job applications.
Lawmakers are also considering changes to allow women to give birth by caesarean section, even though their husbands do not give permission, the Beijing News reported. Some hospitals require your spouse or family to give you approval for the procedure.
The reviews will have to do two more readings before they are approved next year. The Standing Committee is also considering other bills, including a revision of the Chinese Company Law, which would formally make it a law to strengthen the leadership of the Communist Party in state-owned enterprises.
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