Although being nearly 6,000 miles apart and despite many cultural differences, the experiences of the female mill workers in England and Japan were fairly similar. Both English and Japanese female mill workers worked long hours in poor conditions with low pay. Also the woman's young sons and daughter were sent to work in mills. The women at the mills had gotten used to the long hours and low pay that they found that they believed the were better off working in mills than anywhere else. However, the experiences of English and Japanese female mill workers was different in the way that women England got more days off but less meal breaks than Japanese …show more content…
She recounts seeing little kids drop to the floor from all the hard work that is put on their bodies. She also works at the Wilsons Mill, and says that they are treated unfairly no matter what. She complains that it has been going on for 6 years now. Most workers in the Japanese mills were under the age of 10, and they usually received less pay. The amount of children and women is huge compared to the amount of men in the mill. The percentage of Female workers in England, the towns of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex were 96% for a Silk factory while the percentage of men in these towns were 4%.The normal hours of English female worker was somewhere from 15-17 hours a day, and that would mean she works over 100 hours in a week! On Sundays they would be considered off-days. People who worked in factories also did not receive days off on holidays.The percentage of female workers in Japan are 92% for 205 silk mill factories. This means that there were only 4% men working in silk factories. The percent of women over the age of 20 was 34% ,and this means that the majority of female workers were under the age of 20. Japanese women were sent to work at 4:05 a.m. and had to work until 6:00 a.m. In Japan they were given a breakfast break for 15 minutes, then is sent back to work at 6:15. The women were allowed a lunch break of about 15 minutes, and an extra break during the day of about 10 minutes. This totaled for a …show more content…
Among the greatest of those struggles were work day hours and the low wages. In the Wilson mill a young child would work just as long and hard as a grown made but would make less. Another thing was the work hours, a kid would be working for as many hours as an adult. The wages were very unfair between men and women. The average male in England made about 40 pence a day while the average female made about 26 pence a day. In Japan the average male made about 17 sen while a female only made 9 sen. The work days were very long. You started at about 4:00, and you only received a couple breaks if any. The normal hours of English female worker was somewhere from 15-17 hours a day, and that would mean she works over 100 hours in a week!! Japanese women were sent to work at 4:05 a.m. and had to work until 6:00 a.m. The women were allowed a lunch break of about 15 minutes, and an extra break during the day of about 10 minutes. This totaled for a 12-14 hour work day. On Saturdays they would also work an extra 9 hours, and would get Sunday off. Both England and Japan had very hard working women and children. These people were given unfair pay along with very unfair hours. That is why now in the United States we have labor laws and minimum wages. These women were true fighters, and were very devoted to make life better for their