Divorced And Homeless Women
September 8, 2011 No Comments
The feudal system should remain as dead as the dinosaurs, but in China it’s coming back with a vengeance.
To curb a steadily increasing divorce rate and stop women from marrying for money, the Chinese Supreme Court has recently stipulated that “property bought before marriage, either outright or on mortgage, reverted to the buyer on divorce.”
While this change may potentially affect both genders, in reality it’s women who will be hit where it hurts. The majority of homeowners in China are men due to deeply-engrained cultural beliefs that the man should provide a home (in many cases to attract a woman to take as a wife). Men are also better equipped to afford property in the first place, which has gone up “500 percent since 2000.”
Despite women’s large contribution to the household, including having children, raising them and bearing the brunt of domestic duties, there is no such thing as joint property under this reinterpretation of the 1980 Marriage Law. This shift in Chinese law is working to reinstate an outdated landlord-tenant relationship between men and women.
So what can women do? It’s clear they face an uphill battle, but this doesn’t mean that they can’t band together to fight the law. As unfair as it may be, they can still embrace their independence and take property rights into their own hands.
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