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Another problem was wages for men women and children. While the Industrial Revolution helped shape the world we have today, it was certainly a rough time for men, women, and children, their paychecks, and working conditions. When hiring workers, factory owners looked for whomever they could take advantage over most. Women and children could be forced into small workplaces where men could not fit. Patricia Tsunami organized data and found that 92% of workers in observed Japanese mills were women and 66% of those girls were under 21 years old (Document 2). According to D. C.
Coleman, workers were 63-96% women and 35-53% of them were under 1 6 years old. The women and children were also paid less and could do nothing about it. Cheaper alternatives made it harder for men to get jobs and support their family. A Japanese song illustrates the rough relationship between male and female workers. It advised women not to fall in love unless they wanted to be thrown away later on. In the work environment, women were vulnerable to men of higher position. Sahara Taking recalls that girls were abused at work and even raped in the dorms as managers/owners had keys o the rooms (Document 8).
The point of view was of a Japanese woman remembering her early life which may imply that her memory is not perfect or that this may not happen outside of Japan. All factory workers endured long hours for pitiful wages. A former factory worker, Harriet Robinson told the story of a failed strike fighting for better pay. As wages were cut, Lowell mills shut down and the girls gathered for speeches. Eventually they gave in to the low wages and went back to work (Document 10). While women and children had even lower incomes than en, men had to compete with them for jobs.
An English trade officer expressed his opinion saying that men do not want to end the work of women, rather make sure that the circumstances be taken into account. Women generally worked to support themselves whereas the vast majority of the time men have to support a family (Document 7). The officer probably takes this position because he comes from the point of view of a working man with a family. No matter what age or gender you were, [f you worked in a factory, you dealt with terrible conditions.
The Meijer government reported that the average person worked around 14 hours a day with an additional total of 40 minutes of downtime (Document 3). The study was likely part of an effort to improve conditions the working class in Japan and the government just discovered point of view from a factory worker.. Frederica Engel’s stated that even children under the age of 10 were subject to a 14-16 hour work day not including meals or breaks (Document 4). Lord Ashley placed the strongest man in England in the child’s shoes and said even he would break under the hardships.
Lord Ashley believed the repetitive work, mistreatment, and ungenerous conditions are what crippled many children (Document 5). Workers generally worked more than half of the day in cramped spaces using dangerous equipment under detrimental health conditions. More documents or sources would be useful to help analyze the social and economic conditions of industrial factory workers. Some more insight on the wages of workers would help comprehend the economic struggle of workers. Perhaps a record of specific Wages to various workers compared to workers now. This would show how the economic aspect changed over time.
Another useful thing that wasn’t provided could be a table of deaths caused by the workplace. Something with a quantitative, numerical description of what happened and how many times it happened. The Industrial Revolution was an absolutely innovative time period. People excelled in advancement in technology. Remarkable things were invented, produced, and achieved. To get all this done, a lot of people had to put in some serious work. Working class people slaved over in factories across the globe. They faced obstacles such as tension between genders, bad pay, and horrid working conditions.