100
CARL T SMITH
A resolution was proposed and seconded that the mui tsai system be abolished. The Chairman ruled it out of order as the meeting had been called to consider the advisability of establishing a society for the protection of servant girls. At the conclusion of the meeting a resolution to form such a society was passed. It was duly organised as the "Society for the Protection of the Mui Tsai,"
Formation of the Anti-Mui Tsai Society - September 1921
The group that had proposed a resolution for abolition regarded the new society as the vehicle of the elite establishment composed of past and present Directors of Tung Wah Hospital, members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Kaifong leaders. The abolition group was made up of members of the churches, the YMCA, the YWCA and labour unions. They believed the Protection Society would advocate palliative measures only and not get at the root of the problem, therefore they were determined to organize another group to be called the Anti Mui Tsai Society. An organization meeting was held in September 1921 and a public manifesto was published a month later under the names of the Society's Provisional Executive Committee.
This document was divided into sections dealing with (I) the inherent evils of the system, (II) reasons for abolition, (III) the system not being charity, (IV) the futility of reform by persuasion, and (V) tentative proposals to effect abolition.
The document argued that the basic evil of the system was that the treatment and status of the servant girls were similar to that of slaves. Like slaves 'they were bought with money,... exploited without reserve, not paid for labour and can be resold”. The only difference between a slave and a mui tsai was that a slave served for life and his descendants inherited his status, while the servant girl received her freedom on reaching the usual age for marriage.
As reasons for its abolition the manifesto declared the system to be injurious to public morality, subversive of righteousness, and injurious to national prestige. On the last point reference was made to the fact that the 1918 Peace Treaty included the International Labour Convention in which the contracting nations agreed to endeavour to secure fair and humane conditions of labour for men, women and children.
One of the principal arguments used by those who wished to continue the practice was that it was charity. It benefited a child who
100
CARL T SMITH
A resolution was proposed and seconded that the mui tsai system be abolished. The Chairman ruled it out of order as the meeting had been called to consider the advisability of establishing a society for the protection of servant girls. At the conclusion of the meeting a resolution to form such a society was passed. It was duly organised as the Society for the Protection of the Mui Tsai,"
Formation of the Anti-Mui Tsai Soceity - September 1921
The group that had proposed a resolution for abolition regarded the new society as the vehicle of the elite establishment composed of past and present Directors of Tung Wah Hospital, members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Kaifong leaders. The abolition group was made up of members of the churches, the YMCA, the YWCA and labour unions. They believed the Protection Society would advocate palliative measures only and not get at the root of the pro- blem, therefore they were determined to organize another group to be called the Anti Mui Tsat Society. An organization meeting was held in September 1921 and a public manifesto was published a month later under the names of the Society's Provisional Executive Committee.
This document was divided into sections dealing with (I) the inherent evils of the system, (II) reasons for abolition, (III) the system not being charity, (IV) the futility of reform by persuasion, and (V) tentative proposals to effect abolition.
The document argued that the basic evil of the system was that the treatment and status of the servant girls were similar to that of slaves. Like slaves 'they were bought with money,... exploited without reserve, not paid for labour and can be resold”. The only difference between a slave and a mui tsai was that a slave served for life and his descendants inherited his status, while the servant girl received her freedom on reaching the usual age for marriage.
As reasons for its abolition the manifesto declared the system to be injurious to public morality, subversive of righteousness, and injurious to national prestige. On the last point reference was made. to the fact that the 1918 Peace Treaty included the International Labour Covention in which the contracting nations agreed to endeavour to secure fair and humane conditions of labour for men, women and children.
One of the principal arguments used by those who wished to con- tinue the practice was that it was charity. It benefited a child who
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