An investigation conducted by the All-China Federation of Trade
Unions (ACFTU) indicates that existing laws and regulations
pertaining to women in the workplace leave much to be desired. The
biggest problems women are facing today are reemployment after
being laid off; unequal protection, rights and benefits in
state-owned enterprises (SOEs); and discrimination, harassment and
abuse in private enterprises.
At one time, the average income of Chinese women was about 80
percent that of men, making China one of few developing countries
in the world where women's salaries approached the level of their
male colleagues'. Even in the United States, Canada and most
European countries, women's wages nowadays average only 75 percent
of men's, according to a report published recently in the
Washington Observer. But since China's economic reforms
began in the 1980s, the gender gap in income has widened.
Some enterprises will not even consider hiring women. Although
very young women may be able to secure a job contract, women who
are considered likely to have children in the near future are
passed over.
The ACFTU investigation reveals that some enterprises won't sign
contracts with female employees, and among those that do there are
many that simply ignore the terms.
Some work units' employment contracts fail to carry clauses
pertaining to protection of female employees, and omit social
insurance benefits.
Many women are exposed to serious occupational safety hazards,
particularly those working in latex, shoe, chemicals, porcelain,
casting and toy factories. Levels of dust, noise and toxic
substances frequently fail to meet safety standards by a wide
margin.
Small factories in labor-intensive industries often use outdated
equipment with backward technologies in poor surroundings. Risk of
accident and hidden damage that may take years to show up are
common.
In years past, incidents such as acute poisoning, explosions and
fires have taken away many female workers' lives and disabled many
more.
Regular gynecological checkups, the cost of which the employer
is supposed to cover, are often not conducted. Even some SOEs
cancel checkups for their female employees, saying that they are
currently strapped for cash and can't pay for them. In fact, they
have never provided checkups for their women workers.
Non-SOEs very rarely provide maternity benefits, nor do they
accommodate the special needs of women during menstrual periods,
pregnancy or after the birth of a child. Some female employees
still work high above the ground or in low temperatures, or carry
out hard physical labor while menstruating. Women who are seven
months pregnant are scheduled to work night shifts in some
factories.
Some non-SOEs terminate job contracts of pregnant women in order
to avoid covering medical fees or providing maternity leave. It is
not unheard of for an enterprise's contract to contain a clause
forbidding pregnancy.
Some struggling SOEs and most non-SOEs don't pay their share of
insurance fees for female workers, so that women who do bear
children must do so entirely at their own expense and without
income during any maternity leave.
A number of female employees are not given holiday leave and
often work overtime without timely payment in non-SOEs, especially
in the garment, shoemaking and catering industries. The ACFTU's
investigation reveals that many women work 76 hours per week, with
a few working as many as 90 hours.
Some enterprises have harsh regulations and severe discipline,
including beatings, body searches and insults. The dignity and
human rights of female workers are not guaranteed.
The ACFTU report states that sex discrimination is the norm in
today's workplace. The progress made in the early decades of the
PRC has in many cases been abandoned in the years since economic
reform began.
China promulgated the Law on the Protection of the Rights and
Interests of Women on April 3, 1992, and it went into effect on
October 1 that year. Many other laws and regulations address
women's issues, like the Trade Union Law, the Marriage Law, the
Regulations on Work Safety for Female Employees, Trial Measures for
Working Women's Maternity Insurance and the Regulation on Mother
and Infant Health Care.
But the ACFTU's report states that existing laws and regulations
have failed to keep up with changes in the employment environment.
This contributes to the vulnerability of women in the workplace.
The main problem with existing laws is the absence of detailed
enforcement terms and punishment for violations. Essentially, the
teeth are removed from the laws, providing tacit tolerance of
discrimination against women.
(China.org.cn by Wang Zhiyong, March 22, 2004)