Uniform standard for regulations needed

One of the consequences of China’s one-child policy, which was implemented in the late 1970s, is that a couple, if both are the only child, may have to take care of four aged parents. And some of those born in the 1980s and 1990s, may even have to take care of up to six elderly people — their two parents and four grandparents — which despite having the needed resources they cannot do owing to the pressure of work.

Now some local governments have formulated a policy to grant people “nursing leave” so that they can fulfill their parental duties. For example, a regulation passed by Henan province says, if a person’s parents aged above 60 fall ill, the employer should grant him or her up to 20 days’ paid leave per year to attend to his or her ailing parents.

And the Fujian provincial regulation says employers that do not grant their workers such a leave will be punished and barred from bidding for government projects, and denied market access as well as bank loans.

The problem is that there is no unified standard. The Henan regulation says people working in Henan are eligible for such a leave if their parents also live in the province while the Guangxi regulation states anyone working in the region can apply for the leave. There is a need to have a uniform standard for the regulations, although it is a welcome change to see local authorities are trying to address the problems of aging population. attention?

The families that rely on homebased care for senior citizens usually don’t have the resources to guard against risks. Perhaps a more developed social structure, comprising local authorities, institutions and families, should be built to take better care of the elderly.

Injecting more funds to build nursing homes and special hospitals for the aged and increasing the capacities of the existing ones might be a better way of addressing the problem.

To effectively meet the aging society challenges, both longterm and short-term strategies are needed. take care of their ailing parents? In such cases, do their parents have the right to sue them for not to fulfilling filial their responsibilities?

And since female employees already face discrimination in the job market because they are entitled to maternity leave, won’t potential employers be more prejudiced toward them during the recruitment process?

These are some of the important factors that local authorities have to consider, and work out a better regulation for the benefit of senior citizens.

Feng Xiaotian, a professor at the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University