More sexual assault on women at work in China

Women activists at a seminar in Beijing claimed that more and more Chinese women are receiving counseling for sexual harassment at their workplace nowadays but only few of them are turning up in court.u00a0

A well-known public interest lawyer, specializing in rights of women and children, Guo Jianmei believes this trend is due to the growing number of sexual harassment cases at work in China. Guo is also the director of Beijing Zhongze Women''s Legal Counseling and Service Center. His center has received around 183 counseling calls on sexual harassment since 2007 and around 34 percent of these are related to work places.u00a0

Guo takes it as a positive since it's a signal that Chinese women are gradually getting more aware of their rights and prefer reporting their case instead of mutely suffering. But Guo also believes that there is lot left to desire in this matter and women who are reporting sexual crimes against them are still present in marginal numbers, the China Daily reports.u00a0

"First, victims need to know how to claim help and where to get the information from," she added. She also stressed on the need for more legal service centers that can help these women. "About 100 to 200 million women in China have suffered or are suffering sexual harassment in the workplace, but only very few legal service centers provide counseling," she further added.u00a0

Chen Wei, an attorney specializing in women''s rights protection at Ying Ke Law Firm in Beijing believes that she has received many phone calls for advice about harassment in workplaces, but only few clients would take the case to court.

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