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respectively), and “Seamstresses and Dressmakers” (females, both Districts). Oral evidence suggests that tailors' shops were a feature of every market town, since there were no mass-produced clothes to buy, and most women were not able to cut out and sew the family clothes. The tailors, however, must have used dozens of seamstresses in the market and surrounding villages to sew up the clothes they had cut out. The ubiquity of seamstresses - mostly part-time and working from home is very clearly brought out in the 1921 statistics, which shows that perhaps 10% of all women aged between 15 and 45 were engaged in sewing up clothes. The 1921 Census also adds a significant number of weavers, washer women, cooks, and boatwomen, presumably these trades were all conducted on a part-time basis, or from home, and were consequently under-reported in 1911.
The 1921 statistics also mention significant numbers of domestic servants, and most interestingly, mui tsai, most of whom were ignored in 1911 as being clearly “within the home." The 1921 Census again refers to prostitutes in Southern District, but finds none in Northern. The 1921 Census finds 119 mui tsai in Northern District, which represents 1.1% of all recorded females there aged 5-20. In the city in 1921, there were 11,023 mui tsai out of a total female population of 50,990 aged 5-20, or 21.6%. The city statistics also give detail on mui tsai, showing that most were aged 11-17. The census, therefore, strongly suggests that mui tsai were not a factor of as great a significance in the rural areas as in the city. The figures for mui tsai in Southern District in 1921 (39, out of a total population of women aged 5-20 of 3,057, or 1.3%) are similar to those from Northern District.
The 1921 Census also gives, as noted above, more information on women working full-time in shops and workshops. The largest increases in Northern District are among the doctors (31 as opposed to 2 in 1911), clearly many doctors used their wives to interview female patients. The 12 shop assistants and the shop accountant in 1921 also probably represent women working in family shops.
Thus, while the statistics on female occupations in 1911 and 1921 are flawed, and particularly so with regard to women working on the family fishing boats, nonetheless they do give enough to throw some light on the question of the traditional occupations of women, and they
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respectively), and “Seamstresses and Dressmakers” (females, both Districts). Oral evidence suggests that tailors shops were a feature of every market town, since there were no mass-produced clothes to buy, and most women were not able to cut out and sew the family clothes, The tailors, however, must have used dozens of seamstresses in the market and surrounding villages to sew up the clothes they had cut out. The ubiquity of scamstresses - mostly part-time and working from home is very clearly brought out in the 1921 statistics, which shows that perhaps 10% of all women aged between 15 and 45 were engaged in sewing up clothes. The 1921 Census also adds a significant number of weavers, washer women, cooks, and boatwomen. presumably these trades were all conducted on a part-time basis, or from home, and were consequently under- in 1911.
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The 1921 statistics also mention significant numbers of domestic servants, and most interestingly, mui tsai, most of whom were ignored in 1911 as being clearly “within the home." The 1921 Census again refers to prostitutes in Southern District, but finds none in Northern. The 1921 Census finds 119 mui tsai in Northern District, which represents 1.1% of all recorded temales there aged 5-20. In the city in 1921, there were 11,023 mui tsar out of a total female population of 50,990 aged 5-20, or 21.6%." The city statistics also give detail on mui tsai, showing that most were aged 11-17 The census, therefore, strongly suggests that mui tsai were not a factor of as great a significance in the rural areas as in the city. The figures for mui tsai in Southern District in 1921 (39, out of a total population of women aged 5-20 of 3,057, or | 3%) are similar to those from Northern District.
The 1921 Census also gives, as noted above, lai more information on women working full-time in shops and workshops. The largest increases in Northern District are among the doctors (31 as opposed to 2 in 1911). clearly many doctors used their wives to interview female patients The 12 shop assistants and the shop accountant in 1921 also probably represent women working in family shops
Thus, while the statistics on female occupations in 1911 and 1921 are flawed, and particularly so with regard to women working on the family fishing boats, nonetheless they do give enough to throw some light on the question of the traditional occupations of women, and they
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