China: legal text aims to combat discrimination against women

On 21 February, a text introducing measures to curb discrimination against women in terms of their access to employment was jointly adopted by nine ministries and committees*, with a view to filling the gaps in existing provisions in Chinese law, which were too general, lacking prescribed sanctions, and without proper avenues for legal recourse.
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For example, under section 12 of the 1994 labour law, a worker cannot be discriminated against when applying for a job on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex or religion. Article 3 of the law on job creation reiterates this prohibition, adding the wording “etc” to the list of grounds of discrimination. Meanwhile article 62 provides that victims of discrimination take the issue directly to court, but this legal option remains impossible in practice.

The new text prohibits companies, during the rec

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