From the beginning of this year, entrusted by the Internal and
Judicial Affairs Committee of the National People Congress (NPC),
the All China Women's Federation has begun to prepare for the
amendment of the law on the protection of women's rights and to try
and figure out the key points of the amendment.
According to an article in Legal Daily on October 14, amid the
discussion, the sensitive issue of women's sexual harassment
attracted quite a lot of attention as one emerging and important
area of women's rights.
Recent years have witnessed sexual harassment as a growing
social problem in China. Two years ago, China's first sexual
harassment case was ruled in Lianhua District Court of Xi'an in
northwest Shaanxi Province even though there was no result as the
local court rejected the defendant's charge due to a lack of
evidence. On June 3, 2003, a woman in Beijing brought her former
boss to the Haidian District Court for sexual harassment, which is
the first of its kind in Beijing.
A survey of a non-governmental organization indicated that as
high as 59.43 percent of a total 8,282 respondents admitted they
suffered sexual harassment while 25.68 percent said they did not,
14.96 percent said they thought it was hard to judge.
Meanwhile, another investigation report conducted by a women
survey center showed that 84 percent of women encountered sexual
harassment of various kinds, among which single career women under
30 occupied the biggest group; 50 percent of sexual harassment
happened in the work place, among which 36 percent were from
bosses, 14 percent from colleagues; 54 percent heard pornographic
jokes, 29 percent met men who liked to expose their organs, 27
percent have been touched, 8 percent women were looked in
voyeurism, 2 percent suffered telephone harassment.
Liu Biao with the Internal and Judicial Affairs Committee of the
NPC said that lack of relevant laws on sexual harassment is the
main cause why sexual harassment could not be stopped effectively
for some time. Firstly, there is no clear definition of sexual
harassment in law so far. Secondly, the limited existing rules are
too empty, general and impractical.
During discussion, many experts and scholars held the view that
women's rights law should clearly protect against sexual
harassment. It is a matter concerning how to enforce this aspect of
women's legal rights.
The priority to prohibit sexual harassment requires a proper
definition of what constitutes sexual harassment behavior. Xu
Jingjing with Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate sees it
differently. Due to various forms and contexts of sexual
harassment, it is impossible for the law to include them all. At
the same time, the strict definition of sexual harassment does not
exclude sexual harassment between same sexes or sexual harassment
conducted by women to men since sexual rights are entitled to each
citizen.
Speaking of the amendment of women rights protection law, Liu
Biao pointed out hopefully that if people felt regret and depressed
two years ago when the first national sexual harassment case was
ruled out in Xi'an, two years later, there is greater reason for
confidence with the full of expectation of success as they
arise.
(China.org.cn by Zheng Guihong, October 22, 2003)