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Factory Women under Globalization: Incorporating Japanese Women into the Global Factory Debate

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Gender and Development

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Abstract

Women working in factories have been a topic of heated debate since the time of the first Industrial Revolution in Britain (Engels, 1845). In the countries that followed Britain, such as France and the USA, women again played a crucial role as industrial labourers, contributing to the successful transformation of the national economy as well as to their households’ livelihoods (Tilly and Scott, 1978; Dublin, 1979; Moran, 2002). Japan was no exception. Since the establishment of the first modern silk reeling mill in 1872 and during the subsequent era of the industrial revolution, female workers constituted the majority of the industrial workforce (Hosoi, 1954; Yamamoto, 1977; Nakamura, 1985; Tsurumi, 1990; Miyake, 1991; Molony, 1991). See Murayama (2003) for a detailed bibliography.

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Murayama, M. (2005). Factory Women under Globalization: Incorporating Japanese Women into the Global Factory Debate. In: Murayama, M. (eds) Gender and Development. IDE-JETRO Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524026_9

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