A family court in Beijing, the capital city of China, in a landmark ruling has ordered a man to make compensation to his ex-wife for the housework she did during their marriage of five years, reports BBC.
According to the order, the man surnamed Chen will have to provide his ex-wife 50k Yuan ($7,700) for the work she did over their life together.
The ruling from Beijing’s Fangshan District Court came following introduction of a new civil code by the country.
Quoting court documents, the report said that the couple surnamed by Chen and Wang had got married in 2015. The man last year had filed for divorce from his wife.
The woman initially was reluctant to go for divorce but later agreed claiming that her husband Chen had not taken any household word or childcare responsibilities for their son.
Following series of hearings and arguments involving both parties, the Beijing’s Court ruled in the favor of woman identified as Wang. In the ruling, the court ordered Chen to pay her ex-wife the amount as compensation for the housework she did over their marital life of 5 years plus a monthly alimony of 2k Yuan, China’s local currency.
The case has sparked massive debate in internet, particularly about the value of household work done by women in general. To this end, the court order is being considered ‘a landmark’ one but according to some netizens, the compensation amount is too small.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), women in China spend some four hours a day on unpaid work which is roughly 2.5 times that of men.
It is higher than the average in the OECD member countries, where women spend twice the amount of time as men on household work which is entirely unpaid.
