Chinese court orders man to pay ex-wife $ 7,700 for housework in case of historic divorce

Chinese court orders man to pay ex-wife $ 7,700 for housework in case of historic divorce

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Wang, a housewife, demanded a refund equivalent to $ 24,700 from her husband after he filed for divorce in a Beijing district court in October. Wang said she was left to look after the couple’s child and housework alone, as her husband “barely cared or participated in any type of housework,” China National Radio (CNR) said.

In her decision, the court ordered her husband to pay Wang about $ 7,700 as “compensation for housework” after dividing his joint ownership equally. Wang also received custody of his son and $ 300 a month in child support, according to the CNR.

The decision is the first of its kind under China’s new civil code, a comprehensive legislative package that, according to the Chinese government and legal experts, will better protect the rights of individuals. In force since January, it includes a clause that allows the spouse to request compensation from the partner during the divorce for assuming more responsibilities in the care of children and elderly family members.

The decision, which was first reported by local media in early February, became a trending topic at Weibo, the Chinese Twitter-like service, this week after a hashtag was created to draw attention to the court’s decision . As of Wednesday, the hashtag has been viewed more than 500 million times. While some comments applauded the decision as an acknowledgment of hard, unpaid work at home, others said the amount granted was too small to cover five years of domestic work and child care.

Unequal gender roles in domestic life have been a topic of public debate in China in recent years, amid a growing feminist movement. Despite rising levels of education and growing economic status for women, gender norms and patriarchal traditions have not kept pace with these changes, and women are still expected to care for their children and care for the home after marriage.

China’s divorce laws

Compensation for housework is designed to offer additional protection to spouses who have done more household chores – and sacrificed opportunities to advance their careers or education, according to legal experts.

“For the working spouse, after the divorce they can still enjoy the resources, connections and status they had – and still earn the same level of income. But for the spouse who has been making discreet efforts at home, they will have to face the problem of returning to (work), “Long Jun, associate professor of law at Tsinghua University, told state television station CCTV.

“This means that the housewife has to pay a hidden cost in addition to the efforts she paid for during the wedding,” said Long.

The right to seek compensation for domestic work in divorce proceedings is not a new concept in Chinese law. In 2001, compensation for domestic work was added to a review of China’s marriage law with the precondition that it only applied to couples who agreed to ownership unbundling, in which each spouse retains exclusive ownership of the acquired assets during the wedding.

In reality, however, legal experts say that few Chinese couples have reached a formal agreement to keep their properties separate, so it is rare for divorcing spouses to qualify for court-approved housework compensation.

“According to our survey, only 3% to 5% of couples in our country implement ownership unbundling,” Xia Yinlan, a professor specializing in marriage law at the Chinese University of Political Science and Law, told CCTV. That is why the precondition was dropped in China’s new civil code, said Xia.

Falling marriage, growing divorce

At Weibo, many users expressed disappointment that Wang received only $ 7,700, after having spent five years of his life caring for his family, especially in the Chinese capital – where the cost of living and income levels are among the highest. high in the country.

“I am a little speechless. I feel that the work of a full-time housewife has been underestimated. In Beijing, hiring a nanny would cost more than 50,000 yuan a year,” said one of the main comments in the CNR report.
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“That is why young people do not want to get married and have children. The cost is very high, ”said another.

The marriage rate in China has plummeted since 2013. And in just six years, the number of Chinese who got married for the first time has dropped 41%, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

Divorce rates, in turn, have increased almost fivefold in the past three decades. According to government statistics, there were 0.69 divorces per thousand people in 1990. In 2019, the latest figures available, that number was 3.36.

Feng Miao, the judge who presided over the case in the Beijing court, told the CNR that the amount of compensation in this decision was decided based on factors including her husband’s income levels and the cost of living in the Chinese capital.

Now that the new civil code is in effect, the judge said she expected more lawsuits involving demands for compensation for domestic work. “But in practice, we still need to accumulate experience to measure the value of the indemnity,” she said.

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