More females seek help with domestic violence (China Daily) Updated: 2005-03-08 09:06
The number of women seeking help over domestic violence doubled in Beijing
last year, figures show.
 People walk past a
billboard in Beijing advocating an end to domestic violence.
[newsphoto.com.cn] | And women still
have an inferior status in family life and employment, a local justice official
said yesterday on the eve of International Women's Day.
"Efforts to free women from domestic violence and unfairness in employment
should be stepped up," said Shi Guangchun, chief of the legal assistance work
guidance division at the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice.
He made the remarks at a press conference yesterday, organized to review the
legal assistance given to women in need last year.
"The number of women being helped over domestic violence doubled last year
compared with 2003," Xu said.
Municipal-, district- and county-level legal assistance organizations in
Beijing gave help to women on more than 800 occasions last year, according to
the official.
A woman suffering from a gynecological disease was one of those who asked for
help.
She was continuously abused by her husband after falling ill. He even forced
her out of their home. He also refused to pay her medical fees and daily
expenses, even though she was off work because of ill health.
The woman finally contacted Daxing District Legal Assistance Centre for help.
The centre then appointed lawyer Sun Tao to represent the woman in her
attempts to sue her husband in court for support payments.
The court decided that the husband should pay monthly expenses to his ill
wife.
In total, women were helped on a range of issues on around 80,000 occasions
in Beijing last year, with over 30 per cent related to marital disputes.
"Women's legal interests were infringed over divorce, the partition of
properties and inheritance," Shi said.
"Some women were not aware of their husbands' true income and property
situation when they divorced," he said.
"Some wives failed to get evidence of husbands who co-habited with other
women. The women were then in a disadvantaged position," he said.
Meanwhile, another 20 per cent of all consultations given to women were over
labour disputes.
"Some employers dismissed female workers when they became pregnant," Shi said
yesterday.
"Some refused to sign employment contracts with female employees," he added.
The official also stressed that the Labour Law, which went into effect 10
years ago, was now out of date in some aspects.
Various levels of legal assistance organizations in Beijing adopted 1,100
cases put forward by women last year, sources said.
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