Beijing – A Chinese man has been sentenced to pay his ex-wife nearly $ 8,000 for years of unpaid housework, in a major divorce case that has sparked a heated debate in China. Under the country’s new civil code, which went into effect this year, divorcing spouses are entitled for the first time to claim compensation if they have more responsibilities at home.
Ex-wife Wang told the Beijing court that for five years of marriage, “she took care of the child and ran the household chores, while (her husband) Chen did not care or participate in any other domestic affairs other than go to work”.
According to a court statement on Feb. 4, he filed a claim for additional compensation for household chores and childcare.
The court ruled that Wang had indeed taken on more household responsibilities and was to receive 50,000 yuan ($ 7,700) plus custody of the only child and an additional 2,000 yuan in alimony per month.
But after local media reported this week that Wang had filed an appeal (he had originally sought compensation of 160,000 yuan), the ruling sparked widespread online debate over the value of women’s unpaid domestic work. .
The hashtag “woman staying home receives 50,000 yuan in compensation for housework” had garnered more than 570 million views on the Weibo platform, similar to Twitter, on Wednesday.
“Women should never be wives at home … when they divorce, they are left with nothing. 50,000 yuan in compensation for housework is shit,” she read in a comment.
“Could a full-time babysitter cost more than half a year, are women’s youth and feeling so cheap?” read another.
The amount reflected the time the couple got married more “the effort Wang devoted to housework, Chen’s income and the cost of local life,” according to one of the judges, quoted Monday in local media.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has estimated that Chinese women work almost four hours a day without pay, 2.5 times that of men and more than average.
Marital breakdowns have increased 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 increase birth rates in an aging population.