The Similarities and Differences in the Cotton Industry Between India and Japan

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The Similarities and Differences in the Cotton Industry between India and Japan As machines became more prevalent in the cotton industry from the 1880's to the 1930's, India and Japan were different in that Japan had a consistently high percentage of women working at the mills while India's low percentage of women workers decreased during the same time frame, but were similar in that the conditions the women worked in were harsh, the wages were extremely low, and production greatly increased as time passed. The difference between the two countries at the time was that Japan had at or near 80 percent of women working at the mills while India’s percentage was closer to 20 percent and decreasing as they transitioned from hand spun to machine spun textiles. In Japan, rural areas sent their daughters to work in the mills. They relied on the girl's income because “The poor peasants during this period had to turn over 60% of their crops to the landlord" as stated by a Buddhist priest from a rural area of Japan (Doc. 4). Because he lived in a rural area in Japan, his perspective on the necessity of why the women went to the mills for work is more accurate than others. This resulted in the mills staying at a constant 80% of women working (Doc. 7). However in India, only about 20% of the women went to the cotton mills to work. Culturally, it has been the norm that the Indian women stay home and tend to their families. The first similarity between Japan and India is that the conditions the women worked in were harsh. As stated by one of the Japanese women who worked in a textile factory, “From morning, while it was still dark, we worked in the lamplit factory till ten at night. After work, we hardly had the strength to stand on our feet" (Doc. 3). There have been pictures of Japanese cotton mills in the 1920’s that show no harsh conditions. Most of the
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