Japanese Silk Factories Dbq Analysis

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
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
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