The Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women (1992) was the first law in China that specifically protected women’s rights and interests. When the law was promulgated, women were considered to be biologically different from men and carry the dual responsibilities of raising children and participating in the workforce. Thus, in this law, women shall not be assigned “any work or physical labor not suitable to women” and women shall be under special protection during the “four periods” (menstrual period, pregnancy, obstetrical period and nursing period).[1] However, some scholars have pointed out that in the absence of state subsidies, the regulations of the scope of prohibited labor restrict women’s participation in certain industries and partially deprive women of their employment rights in the form of mandatory legislation. Maternity leave, the “four periods” protection as well as the regulations of prohibited labor for female workers have led to higher employment costs for enterprises and the weakening of the overall competitiveness of women in the labor market.[2] Besides, the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women (1992) is embedded with other problems: unclear enforcement units, the lack of content about rights protection (including the proportion of women’s participation in politics, women’s labor rights and rural women’s land contracting rights), insufficient procedural maintenance as well as unclear consequences upon violation.[3] 

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In 2005, the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee passed a decision to amend the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women. The amendment declares that “it is a basic state policy to realize equality between men and women”. The amendments clarify the subjects responsible for the protection of women’s rights and interests (including the people’s government and its relevant functional departments, institutions responsible for the work of women and children, the All-China Women’s Federation and women’s federations at various levels), and promote the solutions to issues on varying degrees, such as the proportion of women participating in politics, the protection of reproductive rights, same-age retirement, rural women’s rights to contracted land and related property, sexual harassment, domestic violence, and so on. 

[1] Yinhe Li, Nüxing Liliang De Jueqi [The rise of female power] (Beijing: Culture and Art Publishing House, 2003), 224.

[2] Huimin Guo, "Laodong jiuye lifa de funv canyu yu xingbie yueshu" [women's participation and constraints in labor and employment legislation], in Nüxing zhuyi zhexue yu gonggong zhengce [Feminist philosophy and public policy], edited by Renzong Qiu (Beijing: China Social Science Press, 2004), 202.

[3] Wenxiu Mo, "A Research on the Amendment of Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and interests," PhD diss., (China University of Political Science and Law, 2009), 43-45.

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1992年的《婦女權益保障法》是中國第一部專門保護婦女權益的法律。該法律頒布時，婦女因被認為生理有別於男子，且需要承擔養育子女和參加工作的雙重任務，因而在法律中對婦女有特殊照顧。範圍包括在勞動工種和勞動負擔、「四期」（經期、孕期、產期及哺乳期）及生育方面的保護。[4]但是，部分學者指出，在無國家補貼的情況下，禁忌勞動範圍的規定實際上限制了女性從事某些行業，事實上是以強制性立法的形式部分剝奪了女性的就業權；產假和「四期」保護以及女職工禁忌勞動的規定導致了企業用人成本的提高，致使女性在勞動力市場中的總體競爭力減弱。[5]此外，1992年的《婦女權益保障法》也在內容上存在一些問題，主要為執法主體不明確、權利保障內容存在缺失（包括婦女參政比例、婦女勞動權益、農村婦女土地承包權）、程序維護不足、及違法責任不明確。[6] 

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2005年，全國人大常委會通過了修改《中華人民共和國婦女權益保障法》的決定。修正案將「實行男女平等基本國策」列入條文內容，明確指明了婦女權益保障的責任主體（包括人民政府及其相關職能部門、婦女兒童工作委員會、及婦聯組織），並就婦女參政比例、生育權保護、同齡退休、農村婦女土地承包權益及相關財產權益、性騷擾、與家庭暴力等問題的解決進行不同程度的推進。 

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[4] 李銀河，《女性力量的崛起》（北京：文化藝術出版社，2003年），224頁。 

[5] 郭慧敏，<勞動就業立法的婦女參與與性別約束>，邱仁宗主編，《女性主義哲學與公共政策》（北京：中國社會科學出版社，2004年），202頁。 

[6] 莫文秀，《<中華人民共和國婦女權益保障法>修改研究》，中國政法大學博士論文，2009年，43-45。