Essay Summary of 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.