Chinese single mothers, denied benefits, press for change
A policy that ‘encourages a husband and wife to have two children’ is at the local level often interpreted as excluding unmarried mothers
By Wu Huizhong / AP, TAIPEI
Sarah Gao had a busy job. As the head of a 500 million yuan (US$77 million) investment fund, she was constantly flying across China on business trips. Then she found out that she was pregnant from her then-boyfriend.
Her pregnancy was unplanned, but Gao, at the time 40 years old, thought that she would not have any more chances and decided to keep the baby.
What she did not realize was how the decision would lead to a nearly four-year legal battle for her maternity benefits.