A stepping stone or a missed opportunity?

Psychological care

Kim Lee, former-wife of "Crazy English" founder Li Yang, is surrounded by media after a court granted her a divorce and awarded her custody of the couple's daughters. Gong Lei / Xinhua

When the draft was released, Yao, from the development foundation, participated in a series of discussions, and suggested that any new legislation should implement a wider range of practical measures to protect victims.

"Clarifying the punishment for abusers and the rights of the victims is just one part of the issue. We need more practical articles to encourage more social organizations to join the fight against domestic violence," she said, adding that her organization will provide money to NGOs to help the victims of abuse.

Men are equal to women, and they also have a right to legal protection in cases such as these "that needs to be made quite clear in the draft," she said, adding that social services, such as psychological care, should be on hand after the first incident of domestic violence.

"When someone calls the police after an assault, the psychological specialists should start work, and help both the assailant and their victim. Timely intervention of this kind can reduce the mental anguish by a significant extent, and it should be written into the draft as a mandatory measure," Yao said.

She suggested that to make the service more professional and to avoid damaging victims twice, training should be provided for all psychological workers and law enforcement officers who deal with cases of domestic violence.

"After all, it's too late to provide psychological help when a couple has already divorced," she said. "We must adopt a zero-tolerance attitude and stop abuse as soon as it starts.

"To ensure the country's first law on domestic abuse is practical and enforceable, we need to consider the factors that can lead to domestic violence to help solve the problem," she said.

"What we need, in fact, is not just more legislation. We need to eradicate the problem at the source through efficient and effective measures."