CHINA COURT ORDERS MAN TO PAY EX-WIFE $7,700 IN COMPENSATION FOR HOUSEWORK

A divorce court in China has ordered a man to pay his ex-wife $7,700 in compensation for unpaid domestic work and child care during the couple’s five years of marriage.

In the first-of-its-kind ruling issued Monday, Beijing’s Fangshan District Court ordered the man, identified by his last name, Chen, to pay his ex-wife, identified as Wang, a monthly alimony of 2,000 yuan ($300) in addition to a onetime payment of 50,000 yuan ($7,700) for having born the brunt of housework and child rearing during their marriage, the BBC reported.

The settlement relied on a new civil code that China introduced last year that permits a divorcing spouse to seek back pay if they had been the primary one responsible for child raising or other domestic labor, such as assisting in their partner’s work or taking care of elderly relatives.

The landmark decision has garnered praise but also criticism in China, the latter in part from people who say that the judge perpetuated the devaluating of domestic labor in his calculation: the equivalent of $1,540 a year.