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BY LI MINGSHUN
The year 2007 witnessed "the new progress in the construction of democracy and legal system, the reliable development of administration by law, and the strengthened guarantee of people's rights and interests as well as the safeguard of social equity and justice" in China. In this year, both the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee as well as local People's Congresses at levels and their Standing committees were active in performing their duties, constituting and promulgating a series of laws and regulations. These laws and regulations have directly or indirectly concerned the rights and interests of women. This article is going to briefly sum up and analyze the provisions in the pertinent legislation in China in 2007 that directly involve the rights and interests of women, so that we can see more clearly the new progress of the Chinese legislation concerning the guarantee of women's rights and interests, and enable these regulations to play a better role in guaranteeing women's rights and interests.
1. The Progress and Analysis of Guarantee of Women's Human Rights in National Legislation
Among the laws passed by the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee in 2007, four are most directly connected with women's rights and interests, namely, they are the Real Right Law of the People's Republic of China passed by the 5th session of the 10th National People's Congress on March 16, 2007, the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China passed by the 28th session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress on June 29, 2007, the Employment Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China passed by the 29th session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress on August 30, 2007, and the Law of the People's Republic of China on Mediation and Arbitration of Labor Disputes passed by the 31st session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress on December 29, 2007. This article is focused on the new protection of women's rights and interests concerned in the Real Right Law, the Labor Contract Law, and the Employment Promotion Law for the following analysis.
(1) The Progress and Analysis of the Guarantee of Women's Rights and Interests in the Real Right Law
As a law to adjust the civil legal relations between equal subjects, and to identify and protect real rights, the real right law does not only represent the objectives of values such as order, freedom, justice and efficiency as other laws do, but also it functions specially in identifying the rights of property, protecting the rights of things, maintaining basic economic systems, safeguarding economic orders and giving a full play to every objects. Due to the special functions of the Real Right Law, its promulgation is significant in a broad sense: from the traditional perspective of juristic thinking, the law of real rights is the most important part of civil codes, an important part of the legal system for the market economy in China, so the institution of the Real Right Law is an important step to improve the legal system for the socialist economic market. If viewing from the perspective of human rights beyond the traditional juristic thinking, still the Real Right Law is an important law to guarantee human rights in China because "to protect legitimate rights of property just means to guarantee the fundamental human rights of citizens." From the point of view of genders, the Real Right Law is an important part of the legal system to guarantee women's rights and interests and boost equality between men and women.
As a law to adjust civil relationships arising due to the ownership and utilization of things impresses people as if it is merely related to objects, at most deals with the relationships between human beings and objects; it seems that it does not matter whoever owns or utilizes them, and it has nothing to do with genders. Actually, that is an illusion. The Real Right Law is related to objects, indeed, but what it adjusts are the civil relationships arising due to the ownership and utilization of objects, and therefore are the relationships between human beings, a category of social ones. As the most fundamental and most general social relationships, the relationships of genders cannot keep far away from civil relationships, let alone far away from the relationships of real rights, so the issues of genders do not only exist in the relationships of real rights, but are profoundly influential. As one important element for people to subsist and develop, properties are vital in social lives; the deprivation of women's properties means a vital threaten to their own subsistence, and women's rights and interests of properties, including real rights, can be viewed as the extension of women's rights of life in a certain sense. Thus, the double attributes as economic and political rights make real rights a precondition for women to gain freedom and equality, and a cornerstone to realize equality between men and women and to safeguard social justice. Therefore, the promulgation and implementation of the Real Right Law in China is very significant to guaranteeing women's rights and interests of properties.
As for the provisions concerning women's rights and interests of properties in the real rights law, one of the important breakthroughs is that it has delivered special protection for rural women's rights and interests of properties. "For long, the issues to discriminate women and infringe women's rights and interests exist to various extents in the land-contracting activities in some places. Among them, some appear as the meetings of representatives for rural villagers, resolutions of rural villager conferences, the decisions of rural village commission or rural non-governmental agreements in depriving women of their rights to contract lands or share the benefits of collective economic organizations; some take young women's 'expected marriages' as an excuse to refuse land shares to unmarried females or distribute fewer shares to them; in some places, the registered permanent residences of women who are married off or widowed are coercively transferred out, and their contracted lands are compulsorily taken back, and their other economic interests related to contracted lands are also damaged. These issues come out of many reasons, some of which are that due to the influence of backwards values, people discriminate women and thus neglect their rights; that policies and regulations are defective, and the implementation of them is weak; and that both the attention to and the measures for maintaining women's legitimate rights and interests are insufficient and weak. These unsolved issues have not only decreased the enthusiasm of the massive rural women to participate in the construction of socialist modernization, but tarnished the profiles of CPC, governments and related basic rural organizations." In this case, the Real Right Law spends relatively more length to define in details rural collective ownership, elaborating the right to contract and operate lands is an important usufruct in rem, and upgrading the access of premises residence grounds to be a kind of real right with Chinese characteristics. It has also specified its protection for the requisitioned interests of peasants which have widely attracted attention, requiring that when the lands owned by collectivity, expenditures such as land compensations, settlement subsidies, and compensations for attachments on the grounds and growing crops should be disbursed, and that the social insurance fees for the peasants whose lands have been expropriated should be arranged. In particular, the Article 63.2 stipulates clearly, "Where any decisions made by a collective economic organization or a rural villager commission or their functionaries infringe any legitimate rights and interests of any member of the collectivity, the infringed collectivity member can request a people's court to annul such decisions." This stipulation is very important in protecting rural women's rights and interests, and it has offered some corresponding juridical remedies when the rights and interests of the mass rural women are infringed by the provisions of any non-government village agreements. No doubt the above-mentioned Real Right Law has laid a sounder legal basis for developing the Chinese rural economies and society and protecting the rights and interests of peasants, including the rights and interests of rural women.
Naturally,when viewing the Real Right Law from the perspective of social genders, one can find enormous limitations still exist in the afore-mentioned provisions in the Real Right Law. The insufficiencies in protecting rural women's equal rights and interests of properties are as the following: ①As for the subject of rights, more often than not the Real Right Law has employed phrases such as "a holder of the right of land contract and management", "a holder of the usufruct of residence grounds" and "a member of collectivity". Simply viewed from a juristic point, such appellations are exactly correct and give no cause for criticism. But systematically and realistically, one can find it would generate unfavorable influences against women. For, in accordance with the provisions in the law of rural land contracts, the contractor of a family-based contract for lands shall be the farming household of the same collective economic organization. Again in accordance to the law of land administration, rural villagers take a household as a unit as they own any residence grounds. Such legislative mode that take "household" or "family" as a subject of real rights may not only leave the operational rights of lands of women as individual submerged in a "household", but also cause some divorced or widowed women to be deprived of their real rights, for "in rural areas, women settle down in men's household in general after they get married, almost all the holders of the rights in rem concerning the usufruct of residence grounds and the contracting rights of lands are the husbands in the households, and the greenhouses that a married woman takes care of are also contracted in the name of her husband. In this case, once the married women are divorced or widowed, it is very common the village authorities on the husbands' sides will take back the lands that these women are operating." ②It is true that the Real Right Law has clearly stipulated to equally protect the legitimate rights and interests of the members in a rural collective economic organization, but this law fails to specify a criterion for the qualification of a member of the rural collective economic organizations. Thus in practices, the rural women, especially the married, divorced or widowed women would probably be excluded out of the collective economic organization, and it would be difficult to find any ways and evidences for remedies once their rights and interests are infringed. So, as early as when discussing the draft of the Real Right Law, some people have suggested adding the line that "the rights of land contract and operation are not affected by the marital status of a contractor" to the item concerning the rights of land contract and operation, and the line that "the right of use of residence grounds is not influenced by the alteration of marital status of a usufruct holder." These suggestions are really very correct, and it is undeniable a regret that the Real Right Law does not include these contents. In addition, from the point of view of social genders, much attention should also be paid to the absences of the rights of dwelling in the Real Right Law and the gender trap in the registration system of real estates.
(2) The Progress and Analysis of the Guarantee of Women's Rights and Interests of Labor in the Labor Contract Law and the Employment Promotion Law
Responding to the requirement in the construction of a harmonious socialist society, legislative work has been intensified with a focus on the social aspect. The improvement of the legal system concerning labor and social insurances is closely related to the personal benefits of laborers and the harmony and stability of society, and is thus a kernel point in the legislation work for social issues. In 2007, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress successively passed the Labor Contract Law, the Employment Promotion Law and the Law on Mediation and Arbitration of Labor Disputes. In these laws, what directly concern and especially protect women's rights and interests of labor is the protection for women during special physiological periods and the provisions about specific collective contracts in the Labor Contract Law, and the provision to guarantee women's equal employment in the Employment Promotion Law.
Both the Law of Labor and the Law of the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests have specified special protection for women in terms of labor contracts. Based on this, the Labor Contract Law goes further iterate that any unit as an employer shall not resort to the provisions in the articles 40 and 41 in the Labor Contract Law to rescind its labor contacts with a woman worker as she is within a pregnant, delivery and lactation period. As for collective contracts, it requires "the labor party in an enterprise may sign with the employing unit some specific collective contracts concerning labor security and sanitation, protection for women workers' rights and interests, adjustment mechanism for wages, and so forth."
To guarantee women's equal rights of employment, the Employment Promotion Law has made three special provisions. In particular, Article 3 in the law stipulates, "Labors enjoy by law the right of equal employment and independent employment choices. The employment of labors shall not be discriminative due to ethical attribution, races, genders and religious faiths." Article 27 claims, "The state guarantees that women enjoy the rights of labor equal with men. Except the types of work or the occupations that the state has provided as unsuitable to women, an employer unit shall not take genders as an excuse so as to refuse the employment of women or increase its recruit standards for women. As an employer unit recruits a woman worker, it shall not regulate any contents that constrain woman workers' marriage or bearing in its labor contract." And Article 62 provides, "Where the provisions within this law are violated and any discrimination over employment occurs, labor may make a suit to a people's court."
The so-called sex discrimination in employment involves any differentiation, exclusion or favors based on genders, consequent it cancels or goes against women's equal opportunities or equal treatment in employment or careers. From the perspective of human rights, it is a behavior infringing women's human rights. Labor is the source of wealth, and employment means livelihood. In a modern view of human rights, the right of labor and employment is a fundamental human right. For a normal healthy adult, his or her rights of life and development can be guaranteed only if his or her right of labor and employment is properly protected. From the point of view of economics, the gender discrimination in employment is an unreasonable and prejudiced activity of resource deployment. It will not only do serious harms to women laborers' job opportunities and employment rights, but also cause enormous waste of human resources to the society. From the perspective of sociology, the gender discrimination in employment will further trap female groups, and thus spawn instability in the society. From the angle of laws, the gender discrimination in employment is an illegitimate behavior, which badly infringes women's right of equality and dignity. So, it is extremely significant that the Employment Promotion Law pays special attention to the gender discrimination in employment.
2. The Progress and Analysis of the Guarantee of Women's Human Rights in Local Legislation
As for the guarantee of women's human rights, local laws and regulations have also played an increasingly important role. In 2007, the provinces, municipalities directly under the leadership of the Central Government and autonomous regions such as Zhejiang, Heilongjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Guizhou, Anhui, Ningxia, Tianjin, Jilin, Guangdong and Shanghai have successively promulgated the Ways for the Implementation of the Law of the Peoples Republic of China on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women (the Ways for the Implementation for short hereafter), and the new progress in guaranteeing women's various rights and interests are as the following:
(1) The Institutions and Their Functions to Guarantee Women's Rights and Interests Have Been Subdivided
A law does not work on its own. The specification of a law-enforcement subject and its clearly designed functions is vital to the implementation of a law. In the Law of the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests amended in 2005, the "General Rules" has specified the status of people's governments at levels as subjects in guaranteeing women's rights and interests, thus it appears very important how to properly regulate the functions and responsibilities of people's governments and their functional departments. The Ways for the Implementation by Shanghai, Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, Guizhou and Ningxia have done a good work in this aspect, subdividing and deepening the four fundamental functions and responsibilities of institutions for women and children at and above county levels, namely organizations, coordination, guide, and supervision and urge. Having involved some essentiality to a certain extent, these documents make the work more authoritative and more operable.
Unfortunately, these documents still contain some insufficiency, however. For examples, many Ways for the Implementation have not subdivided or deepened the supervision and urge functions of women and children's service institutions, and have not stipulated to monitor and assess whether the regulations and policies promulgated by related governmental departments contain any provisions discriminating women or going against the realization of women's rights and interests. In addition, in the Ways for the Implementation in some places, some unnecessary constrains have been laid upon the functions of women and children's service institutions. For examples, the Article 6.2 in the Ways for the Implementation by Shanghai stipulates to "participate in the institution of statues, regulations and public policies concerning the significant issues involved in the guarantee of women's rights and interests"; the Article 4 in the Ways for the Implementation by Jiangxi Province provides to "determine the significant matters involved in the guarantee of women's legitimate rights and interests, and supervise and urge related departments to investigate and deal with by law the significant case involved the infringement against women's rights and interests". Here the word "significant" is simply restrictive and ambiguous. Actually, the women and children's service institutions are entitled to participate in any matters concerning women's rights and interests, let alone that there is no definite criterion at all for whether an issue or case is significant or not.
(2) The Outlays for the Guarantee of Women's Rights and Interests Have Specified Been Guaranteed in Some of the Ways for the Implementation
The Ways for the Implementation in some provinces such as Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Guizhou and Anhui have stipulated to include the outlays for the work on women's rights and interests into governments' financial budgets. What is worthy of specially mentioning is that the Ways for the Implementation in Jiangxi Province stipulates to "guarantee the necessary working outlays for the women and children work, and include them into financial budgets."
The Ways for the Implementation in other places does not deal with the issue of outlays. As with this, some people explained in a national seminar that due to the fear of its conflict with the Law of Budgets, the Ways for the Implementation did not include the outlays needed in the work for women and children into the financial budgets of local governments. The author thinks it a misunderstanding, for the Statute for the Implementation of the Law of Budgets promulgated by State Council has clearly stated that first warrant for the local governments to work out annual budget drafts is local laws and regulations, while the Ways for the Implementation is nothing more than a local statute. Once the Ways for the Implementation makes some clear stipulations, will it not become a legitimate warrant for the local governments to include the funds needed in the work for women and children into their financial budgets?
(3) The Ways for the Implementation in Most Places Has Stressed the Rate of Women among Candidates for Local People's Congresses
First, they have emphasized to recommend and promote women representatives; second, they have stipulated the rate of women among candidates for the local people's congresses. For example, the provinces such as Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, Guizhou and Anhui have stipulated women should account for more than 30% among candidates.
But unfortunately and insufficiently, almost all the Ways for the Implementation merely stipulate the rate of candidates, instead of that of representatives. Only in Jiangxi Province the Ways for the Implementation has provided that women shall account not less than 20% of the representatives in the local people representatives at levels.
In some other places, Shanghai, for example, the Ways for the Implementation does not stipulate the rate of women representatives. The reasons might be complicated. Some might fear that such stipulations are just no use because the conditions are still unready; some might think the numbers of local women representatives have been larger than a national average, so it is unnecessary to stress it anymore, and some might be afraid of its conflict with the law of election. But in the author's opinion, none of these excuses should become an encumbrance in increasing the rate of women representatives. Those that fail to reach a certain rate should set down an unalterable quota for their women representatives.
(4) Some Provinces Have Defined the Rate of Women Representatives in Corporate Employee Representative Conferences
For example, the 9th article in the Ways for the Implementation in Anhui Province stipulates that "governmental institutions, social groups, corporate organizations and non-governmental public institutions should be staffed with women leaders in accordance to related provisions. Within a villager commission or an urban neighborhood committee, there should be a certain quota for women. The quota of women in a corporate staff representative conference should be in line with the rate of women workers in the enterprise. Where there are more than 10 female members in a corporate labor union, a women worker commission should be set up under the labor union; and if less than 10 female members, a women worker commission should be established."
(5) The Ways for the Implementation in Some Places Has Stipulated Women's Offices as Chiefs in Governmental Departments and Institutions
For example, the 10th article of the Ways for the Implementation in Shaanxi stipulates, "In people's governments at or above townships (towns) level, or in the component departments and institutions directly under people's governments at or above county level, there should be a certain amount of women taking the office of chiefs."
In a real life, due to different range of functions, responsibilities and power, a chief and a deputy play distinct roles. The stipulation about women's offices as chiefs in governmental departments or institutions will be a sound guarantee for women to really participate in essential decision-making, and conducive to changing the situation that in the governmental departments of present China, women take more deputy offices and chief ones, and more nominal offices than essential ones.
(6) Some Special Protection Has Recently Been Stipulated for Women during Special Periods
The 18th article of the Ways for the Implementation in Guangdong Province stipulates, "An employer unit shall not, due to marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave, lactation and other cases, decrease the wages or other welfares of a woman worker, or unilaterally cancel its labor (employment) contract with the woman worker, and when alter the occupation of a woman worker, it should ask for the agreement of the woman worker ex ante.
Where a woman worker's labor (employment) contract expires during her pregnancy, maternity or lactation periods, except the cases provided by laws or regulations, the employer unit shall terminate the labor (employment) contract, and the term of the labor (employment) contract should automatically extends until the end of the lactation period."
The second item of this article is especially significant in the reality because currently many employer units sign short-termed contracts with their staff members or employees, and the shortest lasts for mere one single year. Many women workers meet the expiration of their contracts when they are still during their three periods (pregnancy, maternity and lactation periods), and the employer units will probably sign no more contracts with them. Obviously that departs from the concept of human-centeredness, and also it goes against the protection for women's rights and interests. As for this, the Maternity Protection Convention passed by the International Labor Organization in 2000 as well as the related laws in Europe and the USA has made a clear provision: in this case, the term of a labor contract automatically extends until the end of lactation. But before this, no laws or regulations in China have made such explicit prescription, and there is no legal means to prevent an employer unit from doing so. Many women at their child-bearing ages repeatedly postpone their pregnancies because they fear that their employers will not renew their contracts, so that they let slip their best conceiving ages. From a long-term perspective, it is adverse to the development of the nation.
(7) More Stipulations Have Been Made about Insurance Systems for Bearing and Relieves for Women in Need
It is one of the significant provisions in the Law of the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests to guarantee women to enjoy the rights and interests of social insurance, social relieves, social welfares and health care; and the Ways for the Implementation in each province has also taken some positive measures. In this aspect, the deeds in Shaanxi Province deserve some praises. Its Ways for the Implementation has not stressed to fulfill the bearing systems for workers in cities and towns, but also demanded that "people's governments at and above county level should include the bearing fees for the rural women during their pregnancy, maternity and lactation periods into the reimbursed range of rural cooperative medical systems, and reimburse the expenditures in accordance to provided criteria."
In the Ways for the Implementation in Shanghai, the 24th article stipulates, "Each unit should arrange the diagnosis and examination of gynecologic diseases and breast diseases for its own women workers once every two years. Those which are well conditioned can add the times of diagnosis and examination and items.
People's governments at city and district (county) levels should arrange the diagnosis and examination of gynecologic diseases and breast diseases for retired women and those in poverty at least once every two years.
Social communities, corporate organizations and non-governmental public institutions units are encouraged to help the diagnosis and examination of gynecologic diseases and breast diseases for women in poverty.
The 25th article in the same document stipulates, "In Shanghai, a bearing insurance system is carried out by law, and a healthy guarantee system concerning women's bearing matters is established.
People's governments and related departments at levels should follow the pertinent provisions to deliver necessary bearing relieves to women in need; and social communities, corporate organizations and non-governmental public institutions units are encouraged to offer aids to the bearing activities of women in need."
According the statistics and budgets by related sides in Shanghai, this measure will do favor to two million women who are retired or in need. Calculated as 60 RMB plus for one-person examination, the total financial expenditures for all the examinations for once are more than 100 million RMB. No doubt it is a huge amount to the governments. The Shanghai People's Congress and other governmental departments convened 6 symposiums, finally coming to a principle for the expenditures of gynecologic diseases examinations, that is, the employer units pay the most, the governments defray the rest, and medical institutions give away some profits. This principle has been represented in the existing provisions.
In Jiangxi, the Ways for the Implementation has made relatively more concrete and detailed stipulations for the social aids towards women in poverty. For example, its 28th article stipulates, "An employer unit should offer a free gynecologic health care examination for its women workers every one or two years. The administrative departments concerning medical matters should undertake effective measures to carry out general examinations of gynecologic diseases for rural women, deliver necessary medical and health care conditions to women in old revolutionary bases, rural minority-concentrated villages, remote mountainous areas and depressed areas, and prevent and cure common diseases, frequently-occurring diseases and infectious diseases."
(8) The Protection for Rural Women's Rights and Interests Has Been Intensified
Because the Law of the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests has stipulated relatively detailed protection for rural women's rights and interests of properties, most provinces have largely copied the provisions in the Law in question. Jiangxi Province is the only one whose stipulation about community properties and rural women's rights and interests deserves a mention. In the Way for the Implementation in Jiangxi, Article 29 prescribes that a pair of spouses may sign jointly for their community properties that need to be registered, and pertinent departments should offer their support. The 30th article stipulates that as they constitute village autonomous rules and unofficial villager rules or covenants or decide matters such as the rights and interests concerning lands, no villager commissions, villager meetings, villagers' representative meetings or villager groups shall take women's being unmarried, married, divorced or widowed as an excuse to infringe women's rights or interests that they should have equally enjoyed by law as men do, in terms of the contracting and operating of lands, the sharing of collective economic organizations' incomes, the sharing and using of compensated funds for the confiscated or requisitioned lands, and the using of residence grounds, and so forth.
(9) The Issue of Sexual Harassment Has Further Been Defined
The stipulation about sexual harassment in the Law of the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests is a legislative breakthrough, and also a historical step forward. The law in question is still insufficient in terms of detailed provisions, but it has offered some direct explicit legal warrant for cracking down on sexual harassment by law anyhow.
Most of the Ways for the Implementation have adopted some experiences both abroad and in Hong Kong, China to further define sexual harassment. For example, the Ways for the Implementation in Guangdong Province has offered a relatively detailed description about the forms of sexual harassment: "The sexual harassment in any forms such as behaviors, speeches, letters, pictures, images and electronic information, which goes against the will of a woman and contains sexual contents or involves sex, shall be forbidden.
The employer unit and the management unit in a public site should undertake measures such as creating a proper environment or setting up a necessary investigation and complaint system to prevent and hold out the sexual harassments against women.
A woman annoyed by sexual harassment is entitled to complain to related organizations."
The clear definition of sexual harassment enables people to know what sexual harassment is and what legal liability sexual harassment might bring. With strong pertinence, warnings and determent work better than punishment. In addition, most of the Ways for the Implementation have stipulated legal responsibilities for employer units to prevent sexual harassment. "An employer unit should take effective (necessary) measures to prevent and hold out sexual harassment."
(10) The Issue of Family Violence Has Received Due Attention
After its 2001 amendment of the Law of Marriage, the Law of the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests went further to prohibit family violence. The opposition against family violence has been all over China for long, and many research achievements and practical experiences have been accumulated in each place, so the newly amended Ways for the Implementation is relatively more sufficient and specific in describing the issue of family violence and related remedy measures and administrative ones. For example, its description about the concept of family violence primarily adopts the content in the Rules on the Prevention and Interdiction of Family Violence of Hebei Province: "the behaviors causing physical and/or spiritual injuries to other family members through beating, binding and cruelly injuring them, or coercively constraining their personal freedom, or any other means." In terms of remedies, the Article 38.2 in the Ways for the Implementation in Anhui Province prescribes, "When dealing with family violence, public security institutions should collect and preserve by law the evidences related to the family violence." And the 39th article in the same document stipulates, "On a request by woman victim of family violence, the urban or rural basic non-governmental organizations or related units that deliver relieves should offer the evidences concerning the related events; and the medical institutions that have treated the victims should offer the records of diagnosis and treatment." Such provisions are very practical.
But unfortunately, in some places, the judicial interpretation by the Supreme Court about how to deal with family violence has completely been included into the Ways for the Implementation. That may be more exercisable, but certainly will reduce the range of family violence, for the family violence coped with judicial approaches is usually that which has caused serious injuries, while the family violence that the Ways for the Implementation is designed to prohibit is much broader than that in the juridical definition because it involves the purpose of prevention. At the same time, the expressions in some of the Ways for the Implementation are somewhat improper. For examples, in the Ways for the Implementation in Shaanxi, the 39th article stipulates that "For the women victims who are temporarily not able to return to their home because of family violence, women's non-governmental organizations should coordinate the related departments and institutions such as those of civil administration to deliver necessary relieves." This provision is designed for the good of women, but these organizations by women are merely some non-governmental ones, and have not power or responsibilities to coordinate governmental departments. It is the governmental institutions for women and children instead of women's governmental organizations that should be responsible for this job.
(11) The Legal Liability of Infringing Women's Rights and Interests Has Further Been Specified
As with legal liability, the Ways for the Implementation have further embodied some administrative measures and relief approaches. For example, Heilongjiang Province employs the form of regulations to finalize some concrete sanctions such as penalties, offering some actual legal basis for dealing with the infringement of women's rights and interests. At the same time, many provinces have also stipulated the responsibilities of pertinent personnel in their Ways for the Implementation. For instance, the Ways for the Implementation in Shanghai stipulates, " The pertinent departments should fulfill by law a notice of supervising and urging execution within 15 workdays from on the day they receive the notice of supervising and urging execution. Where neither reply is made nor the case is dealt with within the limit of the term, a women and children's service commission may suggest the people's government at the same level demanding the pertinent departments to rectify their defaults, and may advise the pertinent departments to condemn the executives and other staff members who are directly responsible with administrative punishment."
To sum up, the year 2007 has witnessed both a great progress of the legal guarantee for women's human rights, and new development of related legislation. It will cast a great positive influence towards the guarantee of women's human rights, the improvement of equality between men and women, and the boost of a harmonious society.
The author is Professor of Law and Vice-president of China Women's University. |
