Beijing – A Chinese man has been ordered to pay his ex-wife nearly $ 8,000 for years of unpaid housework, in a historic divorce case that has sparked furious debate in ChinaUnder the country’s new civil code, which went into effect this year, for the first time, divorcing spouses have the right to seek compensation if they carry more responsibilities at home.
Ex-wife Wang told the Beijing court that for five years of marriage she “cared for the child and performed household chores, while (her husband) Chen did not care about or participate in any household affairs other than going to work.
She filed a claim for additional compensation for housework and childcare, according to a Feb. 4 statement.
The court ruled that Wang had indeed taken on more household responsibilities and should receive 50,000 yuan ($ 7,700) plus sole custody of the child and an additional 2,000 yuan in alimony per month.
But after local media reported this week that Wang had appealed – after originally seeking damages of 160,000 yuan – the ruling sparked a widespread online debate about the value of women’s unpaid domestic labor.
The popular hashtag “stay-at-home wife receives 50,000 yuan for housework” was viewed more than 570 million times on the Twitter-like platform Weibo on Wednesday.
“Women should never be wives who stay at home … if you divorce, you have nothing at all. 50,000 yuan in compensation for housework is nonsense,” said a comment.
“A full-time nanny can cost half a year more than this, are women’s youth and feelings so cheap?” read another.
The amount reflected the time the couple were married, plus “Wang’s efforts in the household, Chen’s income and the local cost of living,” said one of the judges, quoted in local media on Monday.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that Chinese women spend nearly four hours a day on unpaid labor – 2.5 times that of men and more than the average.
Marriage breakdown has exploded in China over the past two decades as divorce laws were liberalized and women became more financially independent – much to the concern of Beijing, which is trying to increase the birth rate in an aging population.