Female Mill Workers in England and Japan

Ariana Delgado History, B Mr. Carmer March 24, 2013 Comparing Workers in England and Japan The Industrial Revolution was the greatest transforming event in human history. Big factors in the revolution were the human figures. Such as exhausted laborers pouring molten steel or the eight year old child working with a bottling machine. But the main focus will be the women and young girls in the textile industry of England and Japan. Most spinning and weaving for the textile industry were done in homes and small shops but a big change in human history was when process of spinning and weaving were moved to factories and done by machine.Because women and young girls have such nimble fingers they were perfect for operating the machines since they required special skills. In England the textile revolution began around 1760 and a series of inventions changed the way cloth was made in England. Many of the inventions were replacing hand weaving and spinning and moved to the factories. As textile manufactures went from the home to the factory, so did thousands of English women. In Japan the revolution began in 1868 when a teen-age emperor, Mutsuhito took over a new power in Japanese government.The goal was to make Japan an equal to western nations. To accomplish this, they began to invest in coal mines, textile mills, shipyards and many others. Technology for the investments already existed it was more of a question of seeking out advice. This is when European experts were invited to Japan to advise the Japanese on how to establish industry. In conclusion, European and Japanese female mill workers were very similar and critical to the rise in power. Some examples of differences between female mill workers are wage, age and working conditions. Female Mill Workers in England and Japan Female mill workers in England and Japan: How similar were their experiences? Nikita Thompson B period 10/6/11 If a person who thinks they have it tough with their job takes a look at the fact that a young Japanese or British girl worked longer hours, got paid less, and put up with horrendous working conditions, that person might reconsider their statement. Despite the fact that Japan and England had many similarities with female mill workers, they still had a few differences. Young children and women worked in big dangerous factories known as mills, spent more hours then the average working person today, making thread or fixing machines.So how were their experiences different? Female Japanese workers had to work more, got paid less, and accepted the role that their society gave them. Compared to English women mill workers, Japanese women worked more. English female workers only worked about 74 hours a week and Japanese female workers worked 91 hours a week (Document 5). This was bec ause the Japanese workers worked longer each day, had fewer holidays, and worked on weekends (Document 5). English female workers had more breaks, worked shorter hours each day, and did not work on weekends. This is a big difference between female English and Japanese mill workers.Even though in both England and Japan women got paid less than men, Japanese women got paid even less than English women. This is why they had so many workers (document 4). Since Japan paid the female mill workers less, they would be able to hire more workers and increase their production rate. Why would they want to pay women less? They paid women less because the women needed money and they would accept any amount given to them (Document 8). Japan and England had different ways they treated women and because of that the Japanese women accepted almost everything they went through in the mills.In Japan the women were treated a little less fairly. Japanese women were more willing to accept their role in the work force because they couldn’t do much about it (Document 11). This is the reason that female Japanese mill workers got low pay and worked more hours. In their society the men were respected more and got paid twice the amount the female Japanese woman got paid (Document 8). Having few if any rights, Japanese women would be forced to accept the role that society put on them and couldn’t put up a fight against the unfair and unlivable conditions put on them.But like the female mill workers in Japan, female mill workers in England were treated terribly as well. For example, one of the few men in the mill would beat the little children if they didn’t do their work right (Document 10). Though a beating is terrible, it has been recorded that some female Japanese mill workers committed suicide (Document 11). It’s because female Japanese mill workers worked longer hours, got paid less than British female workers, and had less freedom in society that we can con clude to the simple fact even though British and Japanese female mill workers had similarities, the Japanese female mill worker had it worse.