Tuesday, February 14, 2017
The Industrial Revolution: Did we even consider women?
The Industrial Revolution impacted the economy, but how did it impact women? The women during the Industrial Revolution were working in horrible conditions and work weeks that consisted of 60 hours or more, and then going home and taking care of a family and raising children. I feel like if this was happening now, there would be riots in the streets and protests that women would be catching diseases in sweatshops and then bringing them home to her children. Along with the harsh working conditions, women also suffered because they had to sacrifice their education in order to work along with raising a family outside of the workplace. Education was not a right to women or even a priority in the time during the Industrial Revolution. Young women were also subjected to these horrible working conditions and they would come home with injuries that were not taken care of in the work place. The worst of all, was that men would do the equal amount of work as women and sometimes less than them and still receive higher wages than women would. The Industrial Revolution is not a time that we should ever revert to.
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I definitely agree with your statement about riots. If women were being treated this unfairly in today's world, there would be numerous riots and protests to gain equality and fair treatment.
ReplyDeleteThe trouble with saying that people would riot is that the country that would have people riot is the country that doesn't have factories with horrible working conditions.
ReplyDeleteThe United states now has OSHA and other programs that protect workers rights. On the contrary China has the ability to have sweatshops because the people in the country know that feeding themselves is more important then standing up for their rights.
Article of the abuse that happens in China. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/business/worldbusiness/05sweatshop.html
These people are being exposed to chemicals that will cause birth defects, cancer, and neurological disorders: and even physically abusive work.
When these people are working in the factories the chemicals are lead, cadmium and mercury all of which are heavy metals that cause devastation if they enter the body. Even if the materials are not toxic the very first picture in the article is of a man moving a 55gallon drum by hand which in the united states companies that deal with those drums use a special hand truck which makes it so the possibly 800lb doesn't have to be lifted by the person.
In the end though I would certainly leave that job but I also don't live in china were 150 USD is the monthly income for those worker.
I see where you're coming from and I forget to look at it from another nation's perspective. While the working conditions are horrible, these people still need an income and will do whatever it takes to provide for their family.
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