China has told women to uphold “family values” in an updated gender law, the latest sign females are facing growing pressure to adopt domestic roles in the world’s second-largest economy.
An amendment to the Women’s Rights and Interests Protection Act passed by the nation’s top legislative body on Sunday introduced a list of moral standards for women to observe.
“Women should respect and obey national laws, respect social morals, professional ethics and family values,” says the law’s opening chapter, which outlines the overarching principles of the revised legislation.
Photo: AFP
It would be adopted from next year.
As China grapples with record-low birthrates and plummeting marriage numbers, women are coming under pressure to revert to traditional caregiver roles.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) said it was crucial for women to be “good wives and mothers” to ensure the “healthy growth of the next generation” in a 2013 speech.
“China is attempting to use laws to regulate and discipline women,” said Liang Xiaowen (梁曉文), a New York-based feminist and lawyer.
“Why do you only need women to observe family values? What kind of family values are we talking about? These are very vague ideas,” she said.
Other revisions tackled sexual harassment and discrimination, with the updated legislation banning employers from passing over women for promotions due to their marital or pregnancy status.
It also requires lower-level governments to report the suspected abduction or trafficking of women to police in a timely manner.
Liang called these developments “a step forward” for women.
FLYBY: The object, appears to be traveling more than 60 kilometers per second, meaning it is not bound by the sun’s orbit, astronomers studying 3I/Atlas said Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through the solar system — only the third-ever spotted, although scientists suspect many more might slip past unnoticed. The visitor from the stars, designated 3I/Atlas, is likely the largest yet detected, and has been classified as a comet, or cosmic snowball. “It looks kind of fuzzy,” said Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation. “It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail.” Originally known as A11pl3Z before
US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday accused Harvard University of violating the civil rights of its Jewish and Israeli students, and threatened to cut off all federal funding if the university does not take urgent action. Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against top US universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity.” Trump and his allies claim that Harvard and other prestigious universities are unaccountable bastions of liberal, anti-conservative bias and anti-Semitism. In a letter sent to the president of Harvard, a federal task
‘CONTINUE TO SERVE’: The 90-year-old Dalai Lama said he hoped to be able to continue serving ‘sentient beings and the Buddha Dharma’ for decades to come The Dalai Lama yesterday said he dreamed of living for decades more, as the Buddhist spiritual leader prayed with thousands of exiled Tibetans on the eve of his 90th birthday. Thumping drums and deep horns reverberated from the Indian hilltop temple, as a chanting chorus of red-robed monks and nuns offered long-life prayers for Tenzin Gyatso, who followers believe is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Looking in good health, dressed in traditional maroon monk robes and a flowing yellow wrap, he led prayers — days after confirming that the 600-year-old Tibetan Buddhist institution would continue after his death. Many exiled Tibetans
BRICS leaders are to meet in Rio de Janeiro from today, with the bloc depleted by the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is skipping the annual summit of emerging economies for the first time in 12 years. The grouping meets as its members face imminent and costly tariff wars with the US. Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, the BRICS have come to be dominated by Beijing, which grew much faster and larger than the rest. China has not said why Xi would miss the summit, a first since he became president in 2013. “I expect there
RSS