Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / Sandra Schaal -- Copyright Page / Sandra Schaal -- Dedication / Sandra Schaal -- Notes on the Text / Sandra Schaal -- Introduction / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 1 A Brief History of Japan’s Silk-Reeling Industry / Sandra Schaal -- Introduction to Part 2 / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 2 What Were the Thread-Reeling Songs? / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 3 Feelings about Going to the Mills / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 4 Feelings about Working Conditions / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 5 Life at the Silk Mills as Depicted in the Thread-Reeling Songs / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 6 How the Female Operatives Saw Themselves / Sandra Schaal -- Introduction to Part 3 / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 7 Analyzing the Life Histories Used as the “Voices” of the Workers / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 8 Why They Left Home to Work in the Mills / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 9 Coping with Hard Labor Conditions / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 10 Recollections of Dormitory Life / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 11 Labor Disputes and Forms of Protest / Sandra Schaal -- Chapter 12 Representations of the Experiences of the Female Operatives / Sandra Schaal -- Conclusion / Sandra Schaal -- Appendix / Sandra Schaal -- Bibliography / Sandra Schaal -- Index of Persons / Sandra Schaal -- Index of Subjects / Sandra Schaal.

At a time when concern with the exploitation of young women in the assembly plants of developing countries is still a major social issue for gender and development specialists, Discovering Women's Voices. The Lives of Modern Japanese Silk Mill Workers in Their Own Words , offers a vivid account of the lives of women who formed modern Japan’s ‘reserve army’ for textile mills. By analyzing works songs and oral testimonies of former silk-reeling operatives about their lives in the factory and in their native countryside, it challenges the long-standing assumption describing their history as merely exploitative, convincingly showing that factory life could appear as a window of opportunity or at least a lesser evil to workers born in rural underprivileged families.

English

Description based on print version record.