Wages for housewives are on the way
Portugal and China oblige men to pay.
Dr. S-W – 03/2021
The Portuguese Supreme Court confirmed on
the 14th January the obligation of a man to pay around 60,000 euros for the
unpaid domestic work undertaken by his former partner. It covered a period of
about 30 years of apparently childless cohabitation. The exclusive or
predominant undertaking of household chores relieved and enriched one partner,
whereas the other partner became impoverished. Originally, the female partner
had demanded 240,000 euros, but this amount had already been reduced by the
lower court. The court took the national minimum wage as a basis for
calculating the amount of compensation, but reduced it by one third because the
partner had also benefited.
A very similar decision was also made by a
Chinese divorce court, but following a failed marriage. The court awarded the
woman the equivalent of 6,400 euros for 5 years of marriage for childcare and
housework carried out in addition to the alimony payments that also have to be
made. At the same time, Chinese civil law was amended at the beginning of the
year. According to this, in the event of divorce, the partner who has taken on
more domestic duties can claim compensation from the other partner.
Even if the rulings or legal amendments
only affect the two countries mentioned, they are nevertheless milestones on
the way to a so-called "housewife's wage", which has also been
demanded in Germany for decades. At last, work that has so far been done mainly
by women for free is being “valued”. However, this is the same as
"commercialisation" in less fancy terms. This raises a few questions
that have not even begun to be resolved. Do these housewives' wages have to be
taxed? And have social security contributions been paid on this? And is the
partner's waiver of this wage a gift that must be reported to the tax
authorities and, in principle, be taxed as well? Can the housewife's wages be
seized? It is not possible to find out more about this at the moment.