GUANGZHOU - Sending lewd photographs or suggestive text messages to women will be considered sexual harassment according to a new regulation that will take effect next Tuesday in this capital city of South China's Guangdong province.

The city with a population of 9.94 million is the latest in China to create a specific definition of sexual harassment, which is not included in superior State law protecting women's rights and interests.

"Sexual harassment of women through language, words, physical contacts, graphics or electronic information is forbidden," reads the new amendment to the city's current 13-year-old regulation.

The amendment to the Regulation on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women in 2005 added that women could file civil lawsuits against anyone who is sexually harassing them.

However, the definition of what constitutes the unwelcome conduct is absent.

To fill in the blanks and create a functioning law, local legislatures in many provinces and municipalities, such as Shanghai, Chongqing, and Liaoning, have passed similar bills in recent years to be more specific about the meaning of sexual harassment.

The city's amended regulation on the protection of women's interests and rights requires employers to take concrete steps to protect employees who are suffering from sexual harassment.

For example, an employer will be required to change an office's wooden door to a transparent glass door, if any of its staffers report to have been sexually harassed in that office.

It will also be required that victims of sexual harassment be moved from the department that the suspect heads, said Li Jianlan, president of the Guangzhou municipal women's federation.

"Although it is difficult to get evidence of sexual harassment, when we receive a complaint from a female worker, whether it is true or not, we can require the employer to take measures to stop it and prevent it," Li told the media on Wednesday.

The company involved in such a case, upon receiving a letter from the federation on safeguarding women's rights, must reply in a timely manner and take action, she said.

Such a practice will be unprecedented in the country, she said.

It stipulates that employees have the right to require the employer to prevent and stop sexual harassment as a part of the collective labor contract.

A woman being harassed at the workplace may appeal to her employer or the trade union for help. If she is harassed in a public space, she can complain to the property management of the venue or the police.

Victims should try to get evidence so that the offenders are duly punished, said Lin Qiugui, a law professor at Sun Yat-sen University.

Those rules should have been put into place earlier but it is foolish to think that a glass door can solve a problem, said Sanzo Lau, a white-collar worker.

A staff member with the Rights Protection Department of the All-China Women's Federation, surnamed Liu, said, "Although the practice in Guangzhou is progressive, it is not feasible for it to be expanded across China."

She said that many provinces and cities had created definitions of sexual harassment since the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women was adopted. Women's federations at all levels have also been working together with local governments to create provisions suited to their own region.

"Since Guangzhou has more female migrant workers, it will probably need stricter regulations, as will other regions with similar conditions," Liu said.

However, officials said such local additions to carry out the law serve no more than "deterrence".

Shi Qiuqin, vice-president of the Shanghai Women's Federation, told China Daily that "its importance is to warn people to think before they harass and to lay the legal ground to protect women."

Since the new Shanghai regulation came into effect in April 2007, not one woman has made a single complaint to the local federation until last year - despite the fact that the regulation clearly points out where they can seek help, according to Shi.

"After all, it's all about losing face. Reputation and family harmony make them keep the embarrassing experience a secret. Chinese culture does not encourage us to accuse others publicly over a humiliating experience."

Cheng Yingqi and Shen Shuhui contributed to this story.

China Daily

(China Daily 05/28/2010 page5)