Author(s)

Ana Paula Motta Costa, Carolina de Menezes Cardoso Pellegrini, Deborah Soares Dallemole, Simone Tassinari Cardoso Fleischmann

Post-Graduate Law Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre/RS, Brazil.

This work aims to analyze if the Chinese Civil Code, through its order of financial compensation to the spouse responsible for the family’s domestic work, in the dissolution of marriage, can help combat sexual division of domestic work. It also aims to weave possible parallels of comparison and proposals for intervention for Brazil, based on the advances of China, which already has jurisprudence applying the new Law. The sexual division of domestic work dates back to the beginnings of capitalist societies and is also identified in family units, with disproportionate attribution of housework and family care to women. In marriage, the problem is latent, since the assumption of greater responsibility with the home generates asymmetry of opportunities between the spouses, while one seeks professional ascension, the other leaves aside their own to take care of the family. With the dissolution of marriage, this asymmetry is potentiated, justifying State intervention. As a study proposal, considerations are made about the role of women in the family and in marriage, as well as the concepts of domestic work and their gender crossings. Then, the new provisions of China and legislation from other countries that were also willing to deal with the problem are presented. In terms of partial conclusion, it is identified the possibility of Brazil adapting to the new reality of combating the sexual division of labor from the application of Summary N°. 380 of the Supreme Court, in a way revisited to the current social reality.

Domestic Labor, Dissolution of Marriage, Sexual Division of Labor, China’s Civil Code, Gender Relations

Costa, A. , Cardoso Pellegrini, C. , Dallemole, D. and Cardoso Fleischmann, S. (2023) Intangible Value of Domestic Work in Marriage: Lessons of the Chinese Legal Order for Brazil. Beijing Law Review, 14, 1191-1208. doi: 10.4236/blr.2023.143064.