Amended law to better protect those shouldering half the sky

The amended version of the Women's Rights and Interests Protection Law, which the National People's Congress Standing Committee passed on Sunday, includes as many as 30 changes.

The changes cover all aspects, ranging from gender equality in national education to non-discrimination of women in jobs, and it is hard to say which clause is more important. Here are a few examples of the changes that have been made.

The amended law stresses banning the illegal practice of certain medical agencies determining the gender of embryos without medical necessity. Once it becomes impossible to determine the gender of embryos, the practice of aborting girl children in their mothers' wombs will hopefully be minimized if not altogether eradicated.

While the old version of the law protects women and empowers the police to crack down on abduction, the amended version goes a step further by stressing that various levels of governments and local village or resident committees must cooperate with the police in this job. The move will hopefully minimize the possibility of local officials bailing out those who "buy" abducted women to give birth to their children.

As many sexual assaults on women happen in offices where it is rather difficult to collect evidence, the amended law further improves the sexual assault prevention mechanism. Also, as sexual violations of young girls often take place in small hotels where the women are often taken in a drunken state, the amended law requires that hotel managers be responsible for calling the police if they sense any such eventuality.

In a nutshell, the amended law is aimed at better protecting women's rights and interests. It answers the pressing need for women's protection.

A popular saying goes that "Women shoulder half the sky", meaning the workload and responsibility they carry out for society is no less than by men. Actually, women might be shouldering even more, because they work for society as well as for families by giving birth to children and raising them. Those shouldering half the sky deserve better protection of rights and interests.

The amended law will come into effect on Jan 1, 2023. Hopefully, Chinese women, who already shoulder half the sky, will play a bigger role and make greater contributions to the progress of society as a whole.