TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – Sarah Gao had a busy job. As the head of a 500 million yuan ($ 76.8 million) investment fund, he constantly flew through China on business trips. She later found out she was pregnant.
Her pregnancy, with her boyfriend, was unplanned. But Gao, who was 40, thought he would have no more chances and decided to keep the baby. What she didn’t realize was how this decision would lead to a nearly four-year legal battle over her maternity benefits.
Their protracted struggle highlights the consequences that Chinese women have when raising a child out of wedlock. The vast majority are unable to access public benefits, ranging from paid maternity leave to coverage for a prenatal exam, because their status is in a legal gray area. Some may even suffer fines.
Gao and some other single moms want to change that. They are part of a small group, organized by Advocates for Diverse Family Network, which presented a petition to the Legal Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress at the recently concluded annual meeting. They do not expect immediate action, but expect their needs to be reflected in the legislative agenda in the future.
The Chinese population is aging rapidly and the government is eager to promote higher birth rates, relaxing restrictive family planning laws in 2015 so that each family can have two children. However, laws have not changed so quickly with respect to single parents.
There are no official statistics on the number of single-parent households in China, but a 2014 National Health Commission survey estimated that there would be about 20 million single mothers by 2020. Many of them come from divorce, with divorce rates in the country. it almost doubles from 2009 to 2018, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
After a difficult pregnancy, Gao gave birth to her daughter in November 2016. She returned to work after seven months off due to illness and motherhood. Throughout his medical leave, his company, KunYuan Asset Management, paid him the minimum: about 1,000 yuan ($ 153) a month, a huge drop from his usual monthly salary of 30,000 yuan ($ 4,606). The company did not pay her during maternity leave.
Gao pressured the company to get the full salary and maternity leave benefits, some of which would come from the social security to which companies contribute by law.
In Beijing, where Gao lives, an employee can only apply for these public benefits through his company. But Gao’s company refused to apply for it, saying its materials were incomplete because it did not have a marriage license.
When he forced the problem, the company asked him to resign. Gao refused to quit at first, but was eventually fired. However, the company refused to issue him a formal letter acknowledging his departure, making it difficult for him to find a new job.
The company did not respond to requests for email comments and phone calls to Beijing headquarters went unanswered.
Gao is suing the company for 1 million yuan ($ 153,645) in compensation, in addition to the payment of maternity leave. Since July 2017 he has lost twice in court and is making an appeal for the third time.
Each time, the court said that “Gao’s single status during childbirth does not conform to national policy and therefore had no legal basis for him to receive a salary during maternity leave.”
China’s family planning policy does not explicitly prohibit single women from having children, but says “the state encourages husbands and wives to have two children.”
Locally, it has been interpreted to mean that only a married couple can have children. This becomes an obstacle when trying to access benefits, such as reimbursement of prenatal visits and salary during sick leave.
Many local governments require a marriage permit during this process, said Dong Xiaoying, the founder of Advocates for Diverse Family Network.
There have been some changes. In Guangdong and Shanghai provinces, governments have changed regulations so that a woman does not have to provide proof of marriage before making a profit.
In January, Shanghai quietly implemented a new regulation that eliminated the need for a marriage permit to apply for benefits, helping women like Zou Xiaoqi, a single mother turned activist in Shanghai. Zou sued a Shanghai government agency in 2017 for maternity leave salary and public insurance benefits. After years of media interviews, court appearances and pressure on city politicians, Zou received his benefits earlier this month.
Zou believes the laws need to change, as the cultural stigma is still very intense. She recently learned that her son’s playmate’s mother was also a single mother. They had known each other for five months before the woman revealed this detail.
“Its direct impact is that there are some single mothers who are already facing great difficulties who fall into more difficult positions,” Zou said. “The indirect impact is that some people are afraid to talk and others are afraid to face society and will face great suppression. People who do not want to get married end up getting married and enter into an unhappy marriage. ”.
Single mothers and activists hope that a change at the national level can alleviate the situation of single mothers in the rest of the country, such as Gao. A Guangdong delegate to the National People’s Congress said in February that the family planning law may need some clarification to meet the needs of single mothers, acknowledging their legal dilemma.
“I just want to know in national politics, as a single father, as a single woman, do I have the right to give birth?” Gao said.