Abstract: Recently, the four provincial-level governments, including the governments of Tianjin Municipality, Hebei Province, Jiangsu Province, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, have successively revised their local regulations on the implementation of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests, and changed the titles of such regulations to that of “Regulations on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests”. This change of titles is a manifestation that local regulations on the protection of women’s rights and interests have become more systematic and comprehensive. The innovative measures provided for in the "Regulations" of the four provincial-level governments in the protection of women's rights and interests include giving legal status to the gender equality assessment mechanism for local regulations and policies, adopting specific measures for establishing and enhancing women's capacity for participating in political affairs, introducing a joint interview mechanism for rectifying practices of employment discrimination, and granting shared parental leave to both parents. The practice of amendments of local regulations of the four provincial-level governments will help to expand the space for local legislation and promote the revision of the Chinese Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests.

Keywords:protection of women's rights and interests; local legislation; national legislation

Author:Xue Ninglan, research fellow, doctoral supervisor, and director of the Center for Gender and Law Studies, Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Source: 5 (2021) Journal of China Women's University, Issue 5, 2021..