Today is the International Women's Day. But it is not just a day to celebrate mothers, to accompany wives and fiancees to see a movie or on a shopping trip, or just to give female colleagues half a day off work.

Women's Day is the only public holiday to coincide with the National People's Congress (NPC) annual session. This important coincidence serves to remind people of the serious side of women's issues.

Women's rights is one of the hot topics at the NPC, the forum for national legislators. One of the initiatives of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) is to amend the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Women, a law enacted in 1992. It is almost certain to be changed.

An amendment has already been included in the NPC's 2005 legislative agenda, after the ACWF completed its draft for deliberation at the end of last year. Although the amendment is not going to get reviewed by the NPC annual session this week, but by a Standing Committee meeting later this year, the annual session is an important occasion for those who are behind the changes to campaign for support among delegates.

The changes proposed by the ACWF include stopping discrimination against women in the workplace.

For the first time in China, the very concept of sexual harassment will enter the national legal system. The proposed amendment requires all employers to try to stop harassment at work. And there will also be new clauses that insist on gender equality in retirement terms.

Once the ACWF's definition is accepted by the NPC, sexual harassment is likely to be made a criminal offence.

If that becomes a reality, it will have a much wider impact on society than many people could anticipate. Many men will probably be shocked, if we can take a recent press survey as a measure of society's lack of readiness for the change. The survey, conducted in Beijing, revealed that a staggering 86 per cent of woman respondents say they have been victims of sexual harassment in the workplaces or elsewhere.

The respondents also widely complained about the rising number of sleazy mobile phone messages and emails that they have encountered.

Legal matters related to sexual harassment are not the only women's issues under discussion at the NPC. There are debates over home ownership between married couples, the rights of women involved in extra-marital affairs, equality in employment advertising, domestic violence, and the population's gender balance.

Of course, no one is expecting any of these issues to be solved easily. And many of them will not be properly dealt with by the introduction of more laws. A prolonged effort is needed if things are to change.

Just as yin and yang together complete the Chinese classic idea of harmony, our modern-day effort to build a harmonious society, as proclaimed by Premier Wen Jiabao when reporting on the government's work to the NPC early this week, will also require an institutional balance of yin and yang. We need the collaboration between government and the law on the one side, and society's initiatives on the other.

Source: China Daily