In China, courts deny women divorces in the name of “social harmony”

THE BEATINGS were so brutal that Dong Fang (not her real name) was left partially deaf, and her daughter needed three stitches in her hand. Not long ago, China’s courts would probably have ignored such an assault, because the attacker was both Ms Dong’s husband and the girl’s father. Luckily for the victims, however, the country had recently enacted a domestic-violence bill. This enabled Ms Dong to obtain a restraining order from a court in Chengdu, the south-western city where she lives. Local media praised this as an example of the new law in action. Later came the shock. The same court rejected Ms Dong’s petition for divorce. It reasoned that the marriage was still on a “very firm” foundation and the husband should be given “a chance”, the judge told a newspaper in Beijing.

Ms Dong’s plight is common. The law on domestic violence, which took effect in March 2016, aims to protect women. But it is also intended to “promote family harmony and social stability”. Judges often consider this more important than women’s well-being. A study of 150,000 divorce cases filed between 2009 and September 2016, more than two-thirds of them by women, found the new law had done little to help female victims. When people file their first petition for divorce (many have several tries), judges are more likely to agree if the plaintiff is a man. They are usually unswayed by claims of violence. “For abused women, courts are the problem, not the solution,” says the study’s author, Ethan Michelson of Indiana University.