The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-08-11
WOMEN IN CHINA

China Is one OF those Seml-COlOnlal
countries which suffer under a double
yoke of oppression; under the ex-
ploitivc and anneXionist aims of
world Imperialism and it's own ma
tional military bureaucratic feudal
lords.
China is as yet in half natural
half patriarchal stage of economic
life with feebly developed machine
industry in some of the large cities.
The working masses of China live
under considerably worse conditions
than their fellow-workers of the
western countries, for they are the
victims of exploitation from the
sharks of world-imperialism on the
one hand and their feudal lords on
the other.
The women of China live under
even worse conditions than the men.
There are in China at the present
time more than 100000 women en-
gagged in the textile industry. Their
number is continually increasing and
they are displacing the men. They
work on the night shifts and per-
form the same dangerous tasks as
the men. as a result of which their
health is often completely under
mined. The working woman who for
twelve hours a day and often longer,
receives but half the wage of the
male worker, a sum which is barely
sufficient for even a person without
dependents to live on.
There are no laws to protect the
worker in China, and as a result
the sanitary conditions for the work
er are terrible. Many millions of
women peasants are engaged from
earliest childhood in mental, isolated
domestic and peasant work.
The physical development Of the
Chinese woman was until recently
ditional custom and religious beliefs
in pursuance of which their bodies
were Systematically stunted.
From a legal point of view they
are, in comparison with the men
greatly restricted. They are for in
stance deprived of the right to in
herit the property of their parents.
Politically and economically the
women are under yet greater diSab-
ilities. For the women of China,
even those belonging to the Bour-
geois class, there is no possibility of
acquiring education. The daughters
are the property of their fathers
and can in the last resort in case
of need, be sold as servants, and to
utter strangers. AS a consequence of
the increasing distress among the
Chinese peasantry in recent years,
there are at present not only In the
large cities but also in the villages,
great masses of Chinese girls who
have been sold by their fathers and
given over to prostitution.
All the above-cited facts naturally
form a good basis for the growth
of the revolutionary movement
the Chinese women, and one
can say with certainty that theI
women of China will soon become al
great reserve army for the Chinese
At present however,
the women's movement because of
the economic backwardness of the
country, is only in its earliest stages,
The events of recent years, how
ever, have advanced the movement
considerably. In the revolution of
1911 about 1900 women took part.
They formed a revolutionary army
consisting entirely of women. AL
though, thru weak organization the
political movement among the wom-
en- soon fell to pieces, yet in 1919,
when the anti-Japanese movement
was instituted among the Chinese
students, the women students and in
tellectuals shared equally with the
men students in the work of prop
uganda and organized demonstrations
against Japanese imperialism. In
many towns, as for instance Pekin,
Tjantsin, Schanghai, etc, the women
students often came into conflict
with the police and many of them
suffered Imprisonment during this
year of stubborn fighting against
japanese Imperialism. At this time
the number of women in the various
women's organizations such as the
"Chinese Women's League" and the
various students organizations
amounted to about 10000.
In Schanghai, Pekin and Kanton
special journals and newspapers
were published which advocated the
emancipation of women and the
granting to them of equal rights.
In 1921 there sprang up in the
a strong movement for womens
GQudllIy anu Ile " oIlClllS VI viz
franchise. In Canton this movement
resulted in a complete victory for
the women. Although these move
ments bear purely patriotic or lib
eral democratic character, they were
always in spirit decidedly revolu-
tionary movements. In this manner
such a pronouncedly patriotic or
ganization as the Chinese Women's
League converted itself recently into
a revolutionary organization, declar-
ing itself prepared to fight for the
political and economic emancipation
of the Chinese women.
At the present time this organiza
ton is developing its activities in
the sphere of propaganda among the
women. In addition to this, strikes
have recently been manifest, among
the women textile workers and the
women employed in the silk factories
of Canton and Schanghai for the
improvement of their working con-
ditions.