Eliminating Gender Discrimination in Job Market

A relevant worker offers legal aid to women employees.[For Women of China]

To eliminate gender discrimination in the job market, the Legal Department of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) in 2016 promulgated the trial measures for implementing women's federations' system of talking with employers to urge and help them correct their wrongdoings that infringe women's job-related rights and interests. In accordance with the measures, women's federations, at all levels across the country, should dispatch workers to urge and help employers, who infringe women's job-related rights and interests, to correct their "mistaken behavior" (such as refusing to hire women and raising the standards for employing women) within the prescribed time limit.

Women's federations, at all levels across the country, during the past few months adopted measures to promote implementation of the system, to promote gender equality in the job market, and to showcase Chinese society's respect and care for women.

China on January 1, 2016, began allowing all couples to have two children, in a move that abandoned the country's decades-old, one-child policy. The two-child policy is a key strategy in China's population development, and it is intended to increase labor supply and help the country cope with the pressure of an aging society. However, now that women are allowed to have two children, some employers are less willing to hire women. That infringes women's rights and interests in the job market. It also means employers might miss opportunities to recruit excellent women workers.

Officials of a city's women's federation in 2016 learned, through its rights-protection service hotline, leaders of a work unit forced a woman employee, who gave birth to a second child, to quit her job. Within a short time, officials of the federation and the city's human resources and social security bureau made an appointment with the unit's leaders to discuss the matter. Given the officials' efforts, the leaders admitted their fault and they decided to continue to employ the woman. Within a short time, the city's bureaus of finance and human resources and social security issued a notice to improve the maternity insurance of women employees, who gave birth to a second child.

Officials of another city's women's federation in August 2016 learned leaders of the blood collection station, under the municipal Red Cross center, decided to withhold the bonuses of two women employees, while they were on maternity leave. After the federation's officials talked with the center's leaders, the latter withdrew their decision. The leaders also told the officials they would revise the center's regulations to better protect the rights of women employees, especially pregnant and lying-in women.

A district (in Beijing)'s people's court in November 2016 issued a notice about recruiting public servants. The notice said several of the court's posts were only suitable for men. Officials of Beijing Women's Federation and the district's women's federation urged the court's officials to correct their "mistaken behavior." The court's officials suggested the federations' officials should provide training courses to the court's employees, to help them raise their awareness of the importance of promoting gender equality.

(Women of China)