New Delhi: A divorce court in Beijing has ordered a man to compensate his wife for the housework she did during their marriage, in a landmark ruling that also triggered a debate on the value of domestic work.
According to the BBC, the woman will receive 50,000 yuan ($7,700 or Rs 5.6 lakh) for unpaid labour during their five-year marriage. The ruling comes after China introduced a new civil code which allows spouses to seek compensation in a divorce if they bear more responsibility in “childraising, caring for elderly relatives and assisting partners in their work”, the BBC reported.
The man, identified by his surname Chen, had filed for divorce last year from his wife, surnamed Wang, after getting married in 2015. They had been living separately since 2018. Wang was initially unwilling to divorce but later sought financial compensation, arguing that her husband had not shouldered any housework or childcare responsibilities.
The Fangshan district court in Beijing ruled in her favour, ordering Wang to pay the one-off compensation of 50,000 yuan in addition to monthly alimony of 2,000 yuan.
News agency AFP reported that the amount was arrived at after factoring in “the length of time the couple were married plus ‘the effort Wang put into housework, Chen’s income and the local cost of living'”.
According to the BBC, the presiding judge told reporters on Monday that while the division of a couple’s property after marriage usually covers splitting only tangible property, “housework constitutes intangible property value.”
The case was hotly debated on Chinese social media, with AFP reporting that a hashtag related to the ruling was viewed more than 570 million times on Weibo, the country’s version of Twitter.
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Some users pointed out that the compensation was too little for five years’ work. “I’m a bit speechless, the work of a full-time housewife is being underestimated. In Beijing, hiring a nanny for a year costs more than 50,000 yuan,” said one commenter, according to the BBC.
The debate gained momentum after local media reported that Wang had appealed the ruling, since she had originally requested 160,000 yuan as compensation.
According to AFP, comments on social media read, “Women should never be stay-at-home wives… when you divorce, you are left with nothing whatsoever. 50,000 yuan in housework compensation is bullshit.”
“A full-time nanny could cost more than this for half a year, are women’s youth and feelings this cheap?” read another.
Users also pointed out that men should assume more household duties in the first place.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that Chinese women spend nearly four hours a day on unpaid work, which is roughly 2.5 times higher than the average for men.
“It is higher than the average in OECD countries, where women spend twice the amount of time as men on unpaid work,” the BBC said.
Zhong Wen, a divorce lawyer based in China’s Sichuan province, told the South China Morning Post that under the new civil code, “The two parties should negotiate measures, and if negotiations fail, the court should rule.”