Women take part in a spinning top competition to celebrate the upcoming International Women's Day in Renliang Village of Dahua Yao Autonomous County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 5, 2023. (Xinhua/Huang Xiaobang)

On International Women's Day on March 8, apart from sending good wishes and small gifts to women as the routine practice in many Chinese workplaces, society should focus more on the protection of women's rights to give birth at the same time as having jobs.

Recently, there have been several reports about women being asked about their marital status when seeking employment and the conflicts between work and the right to give birth have become a hot topic among Chinese netizens. How to deal with this problem is related to the implementation of China's birth policy and the protection of women's rights and interests.

Not long ago, a 30-year-old single woman who had passed her job interview as a programmer and received her offer was asked again about whether she had a plan to get married. Before she gave her reply, her offer was canceled. This incident was a true demonstration of prejudice against women in the job market, as well as the need to curb this unfavorable trend and promote fair employment.

To tackle the problem, Chinese central and local governments have rolled out a series of policies and regulations. Since 2012, the Special Provisions on the Labor Protection of Female Employees have been implemented. These included some protective measures for female employees' periods of menstruation, pregnancy and maternity leave.

In 2019, China's State Council issued the Notice on Further Regulating Recruitment to Promote Women's Employment, which included a ban on gender limitation in recruitment. In 2022, China's Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women was also supplemented with many articles, such as saying that employers should not "inquire about or investigate female job seekers' marital status in the recruitment process." Apart from marriage, women also have the right to birth and maternity leave. In February 2023, the Beijing municipal government stipulated that any employer that decides not to hire women due to their marriage, pregnancy or maternity leave, or reduces their salary or benef