Shanghai Women’s Federation: Encourage Enterprises to Establish an Internal System for Preventing and Handling Sexual Harassment

On January 9th, reporters from The Paper learned from the Shanghai Federation of Women (SFW) that the city’s two sessions are about to convene. The SFW plans to submit a proposal to revise the “Shanghai Women Workers Labor Protection Measures,” suggesting that employers should establish a system prohibiting sexual harassment, violence, and bullying in the workplace, strengthen education and training, establish an internal complaint mechanism to protect the privacy of women workers who have suffered infringement. In the “Proposal on Improving the Public Interest Litigation System for Women’s Rights Protection,” the SFW made the following suggestions: encouraging enterprises to actively establish an internal system for preventing and controlling sexual harassment.

In the proposal to revise the “Shanghai Women Workers Labor Protection Measures,” the SFW proposed that the “Shanghai Women Workers Labor Protection Measures” implemented in 1990 (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”) has played an important role in strengthening labor protection for women workers and safeguarding their legitimate rights and interests. However, with the rapid development of the economy and society, the employment model of enterprises has become increasingly diversified, new forms of employment have emerged, relevant laws and regulations have been continuously improved, and the “Measures” have gradually shown situations that are not in line with the current labor employment patterns, existing laws and regulations, and the needs of women workers. The SFW made the following suggestions:

1. Promote employment and equal employment. We will improve the employment promotion system, provide targeted career guidance, vocational training, and employment services for women who have interrupted employment or affected career development due to childbirth. For women who face employment difficulties due to childbirth, government departments will provide public welfare positions. We will strengthen the anti-employment discrimination system, integrate relevant regulations on women’s job hunting, employment, and departure from employment in existing laws and regulations, and add various media, human resource service institutions, internet employment platforms, etc., as the main duty holders of the anti-discrimination system.

2. Mental health and protection of personality dignity. Employers should ensure the mental health of women workers by conducting mental health lectures and providing psychological consultation services. Employers should establish a system prohibiting sexual harassment, violence, and bullying in the workplace, strengthen education and training, establish an internal complaint mechanism to protect the privacy of women workers who have suffered infringement. Employers have an obligation to report to public security organs and human resources and social security departments on workplace sexual harassment and workplace bullying.

3. Flexible employment and new industry protection. Female employees under the forms of employment such as labor dispatch, labor outsourcing, part-time jobs, etc., enjoy the same labor protection and labor conditions as those employed under the labor contract system, and clarify the main duty holders who bear education training and labor protection obligations. For female employees in new forms of employment, adopt a system design of equal protection and differential protection under the principle of hierarchical protection. Clarify the obligations of platform enterprises and platform cooperative enterprises to provide training, participate in occupational injury insurance, ensure women’s right to know and participation in formulating rules and algorithms, and promote collective negotiation on special rights of women employees.

4. Birth support and cost sharing mechanism. Optimize the maternity leave system, establish a cost-sharing mechanism for birth through measures such as social insurance fee subsidies or reductions, payment of stability subsidies, and tax incentives. Improve the maternity insurance system so that unemployed women, women receiving unemployment insurance, and women engaged in flexible employment can participate in basic medical insurance according to relevant regulations and enjoy corresponding maternity benefits. Encourage employers to formulate measures that are conducive to balancing work and family relationships with employees through consultation in accordance with laws, and determine flexible leave arrangements and flexible work arrangements that are conducive to taking care of infants with employees.

5. Rights protection and relief mechanism. Strengthen the function of collective contracts, and ensure that a certain proportion of female employee representatives are included in labor union or employee representatives participating in collective negotiations. Let the trade unions and women’s federations play their part by supervising employers’ compliance with laws and regulations on rules and regulations, making full use of the “one letter, two book” system. Human resources and social security departments should implement labor security supervision according to law through joint interviews and other methods of supervision. Procuratorates should protect women’s interests by urging relevant departments to perform their duties, relevant enterprises to bear responsibilities, and supporting public interest litigation.

In the “Proposal on Improving the Public Interest Litigation System for Women’s Rights Protection,” the Shanghai Federation of Women made three suggestions:

1. Establish a professional review committee for women’s rights public interest litigation in Shanghai. Its main functions include analyzing the nature of women’s rights issues, distinguishing gender discrimination from specific behaviors that infringe on women’s rights; identifying and defining the scope and content of women’s personal private interests and group public interests; analyzing typical cases of women’s rights infringement to provide professional guidance for other government departments and employers