China News Service, Beijing, February 25th, title: Should there be compensation for divorce and housework?
Expert: Compensation is more fair
Author Ma Shuaisha Zhang Su
Recently, "full-time wife received 50,000 housework compensation for divorce" rushed to the hot search on Weibo, and whether 50,000 yuan (RMB, the same below) housework compensation should be given or not has also caused heated discussions.
For this divorce case, the People’s Court of Fangshan District, Beijing granted a first-instance divorce. The child is raised by the woman. The man pays 2,000 yuan a month for maintenance and enjoys the right to visit. The joint property is divided equally between the two parties. At the same time, the man is judged to pay the woman’s housework. The compensation is 50,000 yuan.
Behind the controversy among netizens is the concern that full-time housewives are out of touch with society for the sake of family and society, and they are unable to make ends meet after divorce.
The cost of a full-time housewife who devotes herself to the family for many years is not only the economic loss in labor, but also the opportunity cost of earning a living and career development.
Wu Xiaoying, a researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that full-time mothers taking care of family members and other housework is a kind of social reproduction work. Therefore, it cannot be regarded as a private matter within the family. Housework compensation alone is not enough. The key is to include the public Overall consideration of policy and society.
However, even though our institutional guarantees and social support for full-time mothers are not enough compared to many developed countries, it is better to have compensation than nothing. This is also an improvement of the Civil Code.
According to Guan Shan, a full-time lawyer from Beijing Kangda Law Firm, the compensation for the woman in this case is based on Article 1088 of the Civil Code of Marriage and Family: “One spouse is more burdened by raising children, caring for the elderly, and assisting the other in work. If they are obligated, they have the right to request compensation from the other party at the time of divorce, and the other party shall provide compensation,” which is called “housework compensation” by netizens.
"This provision is a manifestation of the principle of fairness in the Civil Code. When a couple divorces, the party who bears more family obligations and provides support and assistance to the other party will face difficulties due to lack of financial ability, which is obviously contrary to fairness. One party in the marriage relationship devotes more time and energy to the altruistic behavior of unpaid housework, which benefits family members including the spouse. According to the principle of consistent rights and obligations in the civil law, the one who bears more family obligations One party should have the right to obtain corresponding economic compensation." Guan Shan said.
How difficult is it for full-time housewives to return to the workplace?
In recent years, there are many films and TV dramas such as full-time housewives, from Luo Zijun in "My First Half Life", Gu Jia in "Thirty Only" to Tian Mi in "Sweet". The experience makes netizens feel that a full-time housewife is also a high-risk "work".
Guan Shan recently handled a similar case.
The man has an annual salary of one million and owns several high-end houses before marriage.
The woman resigned to take care of her children after marriage, and she has no Beijing real estate under her name.
The man proposed that the two parties had signed a pre-marital property agreement.
Although the two parties agreed to divorce, the man provided a house for the woman to live in, and paid the woman 6,000 yuan a month for child support and paid for the child's education. However, the woman still faces many problems after the divorce.
For example, it is difficult to have both work and childcare. Nowadays, knowledge and skills are changing rapidly, and they have been away from society for a long time, and they have not continued to learn, and it is very difficult to return to work.
Although the child support can pay for the daily life of the child, it cannot solve the problem of the woman's livelihood.
Wu Xiaoying mentioned that in an era where marriage is full of fragility, women who leave the workplace and return to their families will be disadvantaged.
Nowadays, some full-time mothers, although they pay attention to their own independence and have personal long-term plans, will try some online parenting-related careers besides parenting at home to broaden their personal development space. However, as the requirements for parenting become higher and higher, full-time Mothers have limited energy and may not be able to take care of both the individual and family.
In addition to financial independence, full-time mothers also face identity dilemmas.
According to Wen Luwei, a lawyer from Beijing Kangsheng Law Firm, in the divorce cases of full-time mothers, some are because the woman is unable to adapt to the life of a full-time housewife after she leaves the workplace and bears greater mental pressure; also because the husband neglects his wife’s efforts and the wife’s family status is increasing The lower the value, the conflicts between husband and wife cannot be reconciled; and because the husband and wife are in different fields, they cannot achieve good communication for a long time, and the relationship breaks down.
"The value of family labor should be affirmed just like other labor. There is no doubt about it. This is also the value orientation that the Marriage and Family Chapter of the Civil Code focuses on conveying to the public." Guoxi, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes, but gender typification Recognition is also undesirable. We should also remove public opinion discrimination against full-time fathers in marriage, respect full-time mothers as well as full-time fathers, and protect their legitimate rights and interests.
In fact, rational feminism should also advocate equality rather than gender privilege.
Wu Xiaoying said that whether to go home and become a full-time woman should first be part of the individual life design of women "live for themselves". They should not be required to be tied to a fixed role, but should follow the principle of independent choice.
At the same time, whether they are full-time or not is not only the result of negotiation and game between women and other individuals in the family, but also the result of social policy and public choice to some extent.
The so-called return of the right to make choices to women themselves and to create a diverse and open value space for them also relies on the support of the overall cultural and institutional environment of the society.
"Full-time mothers must have a sense of self-protection, learn relevant legal knowledge, make reasonable claims in the marriage relationship, and take legal weapons to protect themselves when facing divorce." Guan Shan suggested that full-time mothers can consider signing a marriage property agreement , Fully understand and master the status of family property, etc.
(Finish)