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Early retirement unfair: deputy
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THE rule that forces women to retire earlier than men has been depriving female workers of five working years, a lawmaker told her colleagues at the ongoing annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, as the Women's Day is fuelling the already heated debate on women's rights.
Dai Lili, an NPC deputy from Central China's Hubei Province, suggested the authorities adopt a more flexible rule that would allow women to choose to work until 60, the same retirement age as men.
Li Kuinan, a Shanghai deputy, who has put forward a motion for amending the legal retirement age for female workers, said women live longer than men, and the existing rule is totally unjustified.
Her motion has been endorsed by more than 30 colleagues in the Shanghai delegation, most of them men, including Mayor Xu Kuandi. A similar motion was submitted by a male deputy, Zhou Zhishi, who said the earlier retirement age of women is a waste of human resources.
The existing rule, which has been on the books since the 1950s, stipulates that men retire at 60 while women at 55 or 50.
Since the launch of reforms in human resources in the mid 90s, more and more female workers and officials have urged the authorities to take a flexible stance on the issue. Women's rights campaigners seem to have stepped up their crusade at this year's NPC session.
But their demand is not easily met. Officials from Shanghai's labour and social security departments told Xinmin Evening News that it is premature for China to extend women's working age due to employment pressure. They said the city registered 200,000 unemployed residents last year and even young workers now face the threat of unemployment.
A similar debate erupted in the country's consultative body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), when Huang Mengfu, a male CPPCC member, said on Wednesday that women should have three years off after they have a baby.
He maintained that this would give children more care and help prevent divorce.
His view was bitterly opposed by many female CPPCC members, including Liu Hairong, vice-chairman of All-China Women's Federation, who argued that it would be difficult for a woman to be reemployed after a three-year vacation, and it is premature for the country to adopt a “phased employment scheme" for women.(Lin Min)
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