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http://www.womenofchina.cn/html/womenofchina/report/168421-1.htm

CHINA - RURAL & VILLAGE WOMEN'S CHALLENGES FOR LAND RIGHTS

December 25, 2013 - Editor: Nancy Sun

Rural women at work [humanrights-china.org]

Zhang Ying (pseudonym) is still in two minds about whether to remain in Beijng or to return to her rural home in north China's Hebei Province. According to the village's customary regulations and non-governmental agreements, a married woman cannot enjoy village rights and interests like other villagers. Her land was taken back by the village a month ago when she was married.

But the new land reform decided on by the Third Plenary Session of 18th CPC Central Committee held in Beijing in November gives her hope. It came up with new measures that will allow farmers to direct the transfer of land, allowing the free flow of rural land and rural construction land through land acquisition procedures that are no longer autonomous decisions by the village collective.

Rural married women's land rights are one of the major issues of the rural land contract in contemporary China. Many village collectives directly deprive women of their land rights and interests and their portion in the collective benefits based on village customary regulation and non-governmental agreements or through villagers' meetings or villager representatives' meetings.

For various reasons, they find it difficult to protect their rights and interests.

Rural married woman Xiang Lin (pseudonym) from southeast China's Zhejiang Province and her children were deprived of their portion in the collective land benefits of her village, which is 11,000 yuan (US$ 1811.7) each year although her permanent residence was still registered with the village.

China's Marriage Law stipulates gender equality and the husband's and the wife's rights and interests in family land contract are protected by law. And the Organic Law of Village Committees revised in 2010 also says villagers' autonomy regulations, customary regulations and decisions made by villagers' meetings and villager representatives' meetings must not go against the constitution, laws, regulations and policies of the state, and must not violate villagers' personal rights, democratic rights and lawful property rights. If regulation is violated, the government should instruct the village to correct it.

Based on the law, Xiang filed with the subdistrict office and requested it to correct the village customary regulation. But the office replied that the village's conduct didn't violate the law. In December, 2012, Xiang filed administrative procedures to the court but was refused.

In a seminar on protection of rural women's land rights and interests, Beijing Zhongze Women's Consultation Service Center said they had received more than 600 complaints on related issues involving over 30,000 people across China between 2004 and 2013.

Of the 128 cases they dealt with, the courts rejected 93, accounting for 72.6 percent.

Lv Xiaoquan, vice director of the center, said the courts decide that such cases are not in their jurisdiction and should be in the hands of the relevant administrative departments.

A judge from Beijing Superior Court Xiao Fei said another reason is the laws and regulations only instruct on the principles and not specifics.

Nevertheless, women's federations at all levels have been actively making efforts to coordinate social forces and gain support of various departments on the matter. A local regulation came into being in 2010 in Xingtai City, in north China's Hebei Province, driven by Xingtai Women's Federation, which finally provided a legal basis for the protection of rural women's land rights.

Law Professor Zhou Yingjiang, from China Women's University said the message sent out by the Third Plenary Session was very important, and women's federations could promote legal attempts based on it.

The Survey on the Current Situation of Chinese Migrant Women's Land Rights and Interests in 2011 clarifies the quandary of many rural women.

Among the 1,044 women migrant workers (aged between 20 and 49 from 30 provinces) interviewed, 18.8 percent said they possessed no land in their home villages; 13.5 percent said they had never been allocated land either before or since marrying; 31.8 percent claimed they had lost their land due to marriage or divorce; and 9.1 percent said their land had been acquired by the state.

The survey shows that 23.5 percent of the women migrant workers interviewed had transferred their land to relatives after marrying; that 49.6 percent had their land repossessed by the collective after marrying; that 51.2 percent owned land in their husband's home village after marrying; and that 43.1 percent did not.

Among the women migrant workers taking part in the survey, 20.9 percent said they hoped for strict protection of their rights to inherit land; 14.9 percent said they believed there should be compensation for land loss as a result of changes in marital status; 13.2 percent thought there should be detailed government legislation on the issue; and 6 percent wanted to be able to change their mode of married life with impunity.