A Chinese man has been ordered to pay his ex-wife 50,000 yuan (US$7,750) for years of unpaid housework, in a landmark divorce case that has sparked furious debate in China.
Under a new civil code that came into effect this year, divorcing spouses have the right to request compensation if they bore more responsibilities at home.
The wife, surnamed Wang, told the Beijing court that during five years of marriage she “looked after the child and managed household chores, while Chen [her husband] did not care about or participate in any other household affairs besides going to work.”
She filed a claim for extra compensation for housework and childcare duties, a Feb. 4 court statement showed.
The court ruled that Wang had indeed taken on more household responsibilities and should receive 50,000 yuan plus sole child custody, and an additional 2,000 yuan in alimony per month.
Feng Miao, the presiding judge, said that the division of property related to “tangible property,” of which it was impossible to include housework.
Housework “for example, can improve the ability of the other spouse to achieve personal, individual academic growth, and this is not reflected in the tangible property,” Feng said.
After local media reported this week that Wang had appealed — having originally requested 160,000 yuan in compensation — the ruling sparked widespread online debate over the value of women’s unpaid domestic work.
As of yesterday, the hashtag “stay-at-home wife receives 50,000 yuan housework compensation” had more than 570 million views on the microblogging platform Sina Weibo.
More than 427,000 people responded to an online poll by Chinese media outlet Pheonix Weekly, which asked if the compensation was right, wrong, too small, or too big. Almost 94 percent said it was right, but not enough, with commenters saying it underestimated the job of stay-at-home wives and mothers.
“Women should never be stay-at-home wives... When you divorce, you are left with nothing whatsoever. 50,000 yuan in housework compensation is bullshit,” one comment read.
“A full-time nanny could cost more than this for half a year, are women’s youth and feelings this cheap?” another read.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has estimated that Chinese women spend nearly four hours doing unpaid labor daily — 2.5 times that of men and higher than the average.
Marriage breakups have surged over the past two decades in China, as divorce laws were liberalized and women became more financially independent — to the concern of Beijing, which is trying to boost birthrates in an aging population.
Additional reporting by The Guardian
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
RSS