China’s top legislative body has passed an amendment to the Women’s Rights and Interests Protection Law in an effort to improve gender equality in the country.
According to a statement on the website of China’s National People’s Congress, the revised law will see the government take action to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.
Starting next year, the amendment will prohibit barring the promotion of female employees due to marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave and other circumstances in the workplace.
The law will also require officials in lower level government departments to punctually report suspected abduction or trafficking of women to the police.
News of this latest amendment comes just a week after the Communist Party announced the all-male membership of China’s Politburo — the government’s second most powerful group and its executive policymaking body.
Zang Tiewei, spokesperson for the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress legislative affairs commission, said the amendments will allow local governments to reinforce the protection of women’s rights.
“The revision is based on in-depth research, focusing on solving thorny problems in the field of women’s rights,” Zang said.
“The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress has listened to the report of the Legal Working Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the filing review work every year, strengthened the research on constitutional issues involved in the filing review work, and safeguarded the unity of the rule of law in the country.”
Zang said the draft submitted by the Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests to the Standing Committee proposed six major changes, including the “implementation..[of] the relevant spirit to strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of poor women, elderly women, women with disabilities and other groups in need”, regulate media reports of violations of women’s personal rights, protect women’s rights to privacy and reputation, and to “improve the scope of public interest litigation matters.”
An earlier draft of the amendment submitted last year prohibited employers from stating gender preferences in job advertisements or asking female applicants about their marital or pregnancy status.
That draft also instructed companies to set up strategies to prevent, investigate and respond to complaints pertaining to these matter, though failed to state any legal ramifications for failing to do.
Zang hopes these latest amendments will “actively respond to the challenges brought about by the adjustment of reproductive policies, provide support for women to better balance fertility and career, and focus on optimising women’s development environment.”