離婚後の夫から妻へ家事報酬の支払い命令、中国裁判所が画期的判決

【北京ＡＦＰ＝時事】中国の裁判所はこのほど、離婚後の元夫に対し、結婚生活5年間の家事の対価として約80万円を元妻に支払うよう命じた。この画期的な判決を受けて、中国国内で激しい議論が巻き起こっている。（写真は資料写真）
　同国では今年、新しい民法が施行された。同法は、離婚した元配偶者がより多くの家事を担っていた場合、その報酬を請求する権利を初めて認めている。
　元妻は首都北京の裁判所に対し、結婚していた５年間に「自分は育児や家事をこなしたが、元夫は仕事に行く以外、家庭内の用事を気に掛けたり分担したりすることがなかった」と訴えた。
　これを受けて裁判所は、元妻の方に家庭内でより大きな負担があったと認め、５万元（約８０万円）と、養育費として毎月２０００元（約３万３０００円）を支払い、さらに子どもの単独親権を認めるよう、元夫に命じた。しかし地元メディアが今週報じたところによると、元妻は当初１６万元（約２６０万円）を求めており、上訴したという。
　今回の判決を受け、これまで支払われてこなかった女性の家庭内労働の対価をめぐる議論が、インターネット上で広がっている。中国版ツイッターの「ウェイボー（微博）」には、「女性は絶対専業主婦になるべきではない。離婚したら手元には何も残らない。家事報酬が５万元だなんてふざけている」といったコメントが寄せられた。
　経済協力開発機構（ＯＥＣＤ）によると、中国における女性の無償労働時間は１日平均４時間近くで、男性の２．５倍に上るという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/25-12:10）

A Chinese man has been ordered to pay his ex-wife almost $8,000 for years of unpaid housework, in a landmark divorce case that has sparked furious debate in China.
Under the country's new civil code, which came into effect this year, divorcing spouses have the right for the first time to request compensation if they bore more responsibilities at home.
Ex-wife Wang told the Beijing court that during five years of marriage she looked after the child and managed household chores, while (her husband) Chen did not care about or participate in any other household affairs besides going to work.
She filed a claim for extra compensation for housework and childcare duties, according to a February 4 court statement.
The court ruled that Wang had indeed taken on more household responsibilities and should receive 50,000 yuan ($7,700) plus sole child custody and an additional 2,000 yuan in alimony per month.
But after local media reported this week that Wang had appealed -- having originally requested 160,000 yuan compensation -- the ruling sparked widespread online debate over the value of women's unpaid domestic labour.
The trending hashtag stay-at-home wife receives 50,000 yuan housework compensation gained over 570 million views on the Twitter-like platform Weibo by Wednesday.
Women should never be stay-at-home wives... when you divorce, you are left with nothing whatsoever. 50,000 yuan in housework compensation is bullshit, read one comment.
A full-time nanny could cost more than this for half a year, are women's youth and feelings this cheap? read another.
The amount reflected the length of time the couple were married plus the effort Wang put into housework, Chen's income and the local cost of living, according to one of the judges, quoted Monday in local media.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has estimated that Chinese women spend nearly four hours doing unpaid labour daily -- 2.5 times that of men and higher than the average.
Marriage breakups have surged over the last two decades in China as divorce laws were liberalised and women became more financially independent -- to the concern of Beijing, which is trying to boost birth rates in an ageing population.