But this is understandable, as the status of women is generally relatively low now.
Most women have no personal freedom of their own after getting married and have to obey the arrangements of their husband's family.
Like these female workers who work in factories, the money they earn can fully support themselves and subsidize their families.
However, once they get married, they may not be able to work in the factory. Even if their husband's family allows them to work, their income will be at the disposal of their husband's family and cannot be given to their own family.
In ancient times, women only had their own dowry as property that they could control, and other property was decided by the men in the family.
"There are a few sisters in the factory who won't be allowed to work in the factory by their husbands' families after they get married. This has a great impact on the other sisters," Shumei added.
"But it doesn't matter if you don't get married. When people grow up, they have to get married and have children. This is human ethics. If everyone doesn't get married, how can the country survive if only old men and old ladies are left in the future?" Dong Shuheng said.
"Well, what you said is right, brother, but the sisters don't think so. They think that there will be a large group of people to help each other and take care of each other when they are old. Later they will recruit some young members so that the young people can take care of the old ones.
.Anyway, they keep all their money in the club, so they don’t have to worry about lack of money.”
Dong Shuheng listened to Shumei's continued explanation. He became more and more afraid of this organization. This was completely poaching society!
More and more women are unwilling to get married, not only because there are more single men, but also because the birth rate of children is declining. This will give rise to many social problems.
The simplest example is that the number of rape cases will definitely increase.
Sure enough, with the development of industry and the emergence of new classes, new problems did arise.
If he hadn't listened to his two sisters today, Dong Shuheng wouldn't have known that such a thing had happened.
In fact, these issues that women worry about have always existed in ancient Chinese society, and they can be summed up as women's rights issues.
Dong Shuheng is not a feminist, and he is not planning to launch any feminist movement in this era.
However, with the development of industry, the demand for women to participate in the work industry is getting stronger and stronger. Then certain protection must be provided to women.
Otherwise, existing social customs and habits will seriously hinder women from entering factories and taking up work positions.
These are some social contradictions that will inevitably arise during the development of productive forces. In Dong Shuheng's view, these social contradictions must not be allowed to develop freely.
Otherwise, there will be an extreme way of resolving conflicts such as "girls who comb themselves".
Dong Shuheng knew that this problem could only be solved by himself. The problem was not serious yet and was only in its infancy.
This problem cannot only be solved by legislation. In China's current society, even in the jurisdiction of Huaihai Haijun, administrative power has penetrated deep into the township level.
The main way people solve problems is still not through legal means.
The influence of habits on people is deep-rooted. It makes people feel that doing something is natural, even if it is illegal.
Therefore, to solve this difficult matter, we must start by changing people's habits and changing people's inherent understanding.
Everyone knows that it is easy to develop bad habits but difficult to break them. It is definitely not easy to change these bad habits that have been formed from generation to generation.
"Brother, brother, what are you thinking about?" Shumei saw that Dong Shuheng had been thinking about it for a long time and couldn't help but interrupt.
"Oh, it's okay. I'll take care of this matter, otherwise your factory may not be able to recruit female workers in the future." Dong Shuheng came to his senses.
"Shu Yun, you can develop machine embroidery, but you have to tell customers that hand embroidery is the real high-end product. When machine embroidery comes out in the future, the prices of industrial products and handmade products will be higher. Hand-made embroidery will be highlighted as a luxury product.
status of quality.”
"Otherwise, your handmade embroidery will gradually lose market in the future. In the future, handmade products must be shown to be handmade, and the high-end nature of handmade products must be emphasized. Only in this way can your embroidery business be able to continue in the long run."
"The threshold for machine embroidery is very low. When the time comes, foreigners can even do it themselves, which will inevitably crowd out your market. So you have to make good use of your leading position and label machine embroidery as low-end from the beginning, lowering the price of the machine."
Embroidery Profit Margins.”
Dong Shuheng explained to his sister again. He reminded Dong Shuyun to develop machine embroidery, but not to expect it to make money, but to make it an unprofitable business and block the way for others.
Shuyun didn't understand what Dong Shuheng said. Why did he spend money to develop the machine and then make it unprofitable?
Dong Shuheng knew that the concept he just explained was a bit ahead of his time, so he organized what he just said again.
After explaining for a long time, Shuyun finally understood the truth. This also made Shuyun sigh in his heart that his brother had finally received the true business inheritance from his father.
"Shuyun, Shumei, let's go have dinner together?" It was getting late, Dong Shuheng said to his two sisters.
"Mom is cooking today. Let's go back to eat in the evening. How about my brother go back with us?" Shuyun said.
"Okay, let's eat at home." Originally, Dong Shuheng was planning to take his two younger sisters out to eat, but he thought it would be better to go home with his younger sisters.
Every time I go out to eat, I have to stand in front of other people's restaurants first, which will affect their business to some extent.
Before Dong Shuheng left, he sent someone to send a telegram to invite Zeng Xianfeng and the ministers of the military government, some heads of the court, and several teachers from the Shuyuan Law School to Gaoyou. He planned to hold a special meeting after dinner to discuss this matter.
Solved.
The two sisters and Mr. Bai still live in the house he bought for them before, with two sentries guarding the door.
When meeting Mr. Bai in the past, Dong Shuheng was always a little embarrassed. After all, there were some conflicts between the two.
But now as time goes by, both of them seem to have forgotten.
Bai's dishes are cooked extremely well. They are authentic Huaiyang dishes and can rival the chefs in the restaurant.
At the dinner table, Mrs. Bai brought up the issue of the marriage of her two daughters again. Now that Dong Shuheng is the head of the family, of course he has to make the decision on this issue.
"Don't worry, auntie, whoever marries my Dong Shuheng's sister will be chosen by him. Don't worry, just let the two sisters choose slowly and choose the one they like." Dong Shuheng said with relief.
Before arriving home just now, the two younger sisters had asked Dong Shuheng to help them persuade their mother not to always bring up the matter of marriage in front of them.
"Shu Heng, you see they are already seventeen, and they still stay away from home all day long and show their faces outside. I am worried that they are acting wild, so I want to find an in-law to take care of them." Bai complained.
said.
"It's okay, aunt. With their status, which husband's family would dare to take care of them? Don't always tell them about this in the future. If someone hears about it, they will think that my Dong Shuheng's sister can't get married!" Dong Shuheng
He said pretending to be a little unhappy.
"Okay, I won't talk about them anymore, but you must take it seriously. How can a girl choose her husband's family by herself?" Bai Shi said again.
Now the Bai family can't stand up to Dong Shuheng. The Bai family is getting bigger and bigger relying on the Huaihai Navy business. They not only sell food, but even go to Taiwan to build a farm. The Bai family goes to the mainland to recruit people to Taiwan.
Helping with farming on the farm above.
Taiwan Island has not yet been fully developed, and land is very cheap. You can buy large tracts of land from the local government at a very low price.
Huaihai Agricultural Reclamation bought a lot of land for development, especially near Keelung, the Navy's port, and Huaihai Navy's farms were even denser.
The Bai family also took advantage of the Huaihai Navy, otherwise they wouldn't have the guts to go out and reserve land on their own!
This is a typical business with high investment and slow returns.
Dong Shuheng was very satisfied with the meal. Dong Shuheng liked Bai's craftsmanship very much.
The mature Shuyun makes him proud, and the lively Shumei can always bring him happiness.
After finishing the meal, Dong Shuheng came to the original Zhizhou Yamen, which is now the office of the Gaoyou Military Government.
There is not much distance between Yangzhou and Gaoyou. Within one meal, the people Dong Shuheng summoned had basically arrived.
Li Cunxun has come over in advance to arrange the meeting venue. He also told everyone about the content of the meeting in advance.
It's better to give these people time to think, so that everyone will not be caught off guard. In fact, Dong Shuheng's vigorous and resolute behavior today has already made all his subordinates rush for time.
"Thank you for asking everyone to come here from Yangzhou today. Cun Xun has already introduced it to everyone. This matter is a new problem. It can be said that it only arose after the industrialization of our Huaihai Navy."
Seeing that the people below didn't say anything, in fact, no one had thought of what to say. They had never encountered such an issue as protecting women's rights.
"I know that no one has ever encountered such a situation. You must know that we did not have machines that could operate by burning coal before. With the development of industry, there will be more and more industries that can be engaged by women in the future. Now this
This problem will become more and more serious.”
"In fact, this incident appears to be that female workers are unwilling to get married, but the root cause is that women's rights to work and the right to dispose of work income are not guaranteed."
"Let's talk more deeply about the contradiction between the new social production mode and traditional concepts." Dong Shuheng explained the problem deeply, and everyone gradually understood.
"President, I now understand what you mean. Do you want to legislate to protect these two rights of women? With all due respect, ordinary people will feel that this is their own family matter. Even if legislation is passed, it will not necessarily
It can work, but the daughter-in-law can’t really take her husband’s family to court!” Zeng Xianfeng said.
What Zeng Xianfeng said is the current social reality among the people in the Qing Dynasty. In this kind of family affairs, ordinary people will not recognize the jurisdiction of the law.
It can be said that even if a law is promulgated on this matter, it is equivalent to a piece of waste paper and there is no way to implement it.
"Old Zeng, I know what you mean. The people's ideas are still deeply ingrained in their hearts. It is difficult to change, but it is not impossible."
"Take the braids on our heads for example. After the Qing army destroyed the Ming Dynasty, how many people were killed before the people were allowed to have braids. But now the people think that it is natural to have braids. Maybe when we drive out the Manchus
Now that we're gone, there are still people who don't want to cut their braids."