China’s single mothers fight for their rights to public benefits

Country’s family planning policy does not explicitly forbid unmarried women to have children, but says ‘the state encourages a husband and wife to have two children’

‘I just want to know in the national policy, as an unmarried woman … do I have the right to give birth?’ says woman who was sacked for fighting for her right to a full salary and maternity leave benefits

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Zou Xiaoqi sued a Shanghai government agency in 2017 to get her maternity leave salary and public insurance benefits. Photo: AP

Published: 5:09pm, 15 Mar 2021Updated: 5:09pm, 15 Mar 2021

Sarah Gao had a busy job. As the head of a 500 million yuan (US$77 million) investment fund, she was constantly flying across China on business trips. Then she found out she was pregnant.

Her pregnancy, with her then boyfriend, was unplanned. But Gao, who was 40, thought she would not have any more chances, and decided to keep the baby. What she did not realise was how that decision would lead to a nearly four-year legal battle for her maternity benefits.

Her protracted fight highlights the consequences that Chinese women face when they raise a child outside marriage. The vast majority are unable to access public benefits, ranging from paid maternity leave to prenatal exams, because their status is in a legal grey zone.

Gao and some other single mothers want to change this. They are part of a group, organised by Advocates for Diverse Family Network, that petitioned the Legal Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at its recently concluded annual meeting. They do not expect immediate action, but hope their needs will be reflected in the legislative agenda in the future.

China’s population is rapidly ageing and the government is eager to promote higher birth rates, relaxing restrictive family planning laws in 2015 so that each family can have two children. But the laws have not changed as quickly with regards to single parents.