Industrial Revolution started in Western Europe, specifically in Britain, but other countries were soon quickly caught up with Britain to lead the industry. At that time, Japan was isolated them from Europe, however later they were forced to open the door by the U. S government. Instead of resisting, the Japanese began to follow other countries in the industry. Silk factories were part of their industry; they hired female women, especially young girls to work in their silk factories.
The costs did not outweigh the benefits the female workers in Japanese silk factories during the early 1900’s because workers were working under harsh and inhuman conditions, with amount of hours they work the wages are really low and it was out of choice to work in the factories. One of the reasons why the benefits did not outweigh the cost is the working condition. Factories because they were working under harm and inhuman conditions. According to a chart in Silk Factories, Nagano Japan 1901, “there is 18% of 14 and under girls and 48% of 15-20 female workers worked in the 205 mill. (Doc A)
64% of the workers in the factory were 20 and under, in other words, more than half of the workers were teenagers. Working at this young age is also known as child labor, it harms children and prevents them from getting an education. As a young female from Japan, Patricia Tsurumi believe it is necessary to show the world out there, the gender inequality in the Japan. It t is wrong to hire any young people because everyone in this world deserves an education, without education they don’t understand what is right and wrong.
Based on a study by the Japanese government in 1900, “Workers were allowed 25 minutes including lunch, and they were kept on the job till 7:30 p. m. for a total of 14 hours and 20 minutes. ” (Doc B). Workers spend more than half of their day in the factory, but with only 2 breaks. The factories are trying to make the workers do as much as possible because it does not matter to them since the workers get paid by daily wages rather than hourly. It is harsh to treat workers like this because workers are human too, they deserve better than this.
Two breaks are not enough especially when you have to work hard all day From a data of the government in 1909 “2483 female workers left their job because of illnesses. ” (Doc D) This shows that the illness takes an important role of reason why female workers left their jobs. Harsh conditions lead them to sickness forcing themselves to quit job. It is not fair for the workers because they work themselves to death in the factory and now are forced to leave because of the illnesses are caused by the horrendous working conditions.
Although the female workers get paid for their work and it was probably a chance for them to earn independence and freedom from poverty, however the costs do not outweigh the benefits because working under these conditions caused them illnesses and one step closer to death. Second reason why the costs did not outweigh the benefits of Japanese female workers because female workers have no choice. Girls were forced to work because family’s poverty.
A contract for employment, ‘We confirm that in return for contracting the above person employed as a female operative at your filature … , we have received the said earnest money in full. (Doc E) Earnest money is the money that the parents of the hired girl received once they contract is signed. Parents were signed these contracts because they live in poverty, they relied on their kids to live. This is not fair, not fair for the family but more for the young girl because the contract was between the parents and factory, the girl has no choice but go off to work in the factory. From a song that was written by a Silk Worker about 1900, “Because I am poor, at age twelve I was sold to this factory.
When my parents told me, “Now it is time to go” My very heart wept tears of blood. (Doc G) The girl is sad and hurt when she was sold to the factory, however she knew her wage was an important help to her family. It is immoral that the Japanese factories hired young girls because they knew that money is important to the girls, the factories saw it as an opportunity so they took advantage of it. Silk female worker wrote this song to express her feeling of hatred of working in the cruel factories Overall, the costs don’t outweigh the benefits because the factories are taking advantage of the girls who have no choice but work for them because money is an important to their needy families.
Lastly, the costs did not outweigh the benefits of the workers because female workers work a massive number of hours with low wages. According to the chart in Japan 1892 “Average daily wage of a female silk factory worker is only 13 Sen. ” (Doc C) female workers get paid only 13 sen a day. this amount of paid was not enough for a living because at that time a pair of ladies indoor sandals already costs 7 Sen. It is just not right to pay the workers with so little money, especially when the workers spend all their day in the horrible factory conditions working.
A survey of the Japanese Silk Worker “70% said the pay was good and 0% said it was poor, overall experience 90% said it was positive. ” (Doc F). Almost everyone said the pay was decent and none of the workers were complaining about the wages. This document is not reliable because as a young female worker, no one would want to work in a harsh condition with low wages especially when you have no choice but agree to work.
With all these conditions, it benefits more for the factories rather than outweigh the cost of the female workers because the factories hiring female workers would be better for them because female’s wages are lower than men but they still able to provide the same amount of work as men does. A document that may have added to the information already provided would have been The Working environment of the workers because it would tell us more about the conditions of the female worker, it would also explain us about the leading cause of sickness of the workers.
It would help understanding the experience that workers have to been through. Women played an important role helping the Japan economic. But what they got in return was horrendous conditions with a massive of working hours every day and only receiving a little amount of money. Japan today should never forget the help of young girls spending their youth in the gruel factories to raise the country’s economy.
