Difference between revisions of "325--2011--Week 5 Questions/Comments"
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This was a really interesting read because it made me realize the changing roles of women workers. The reading mentions, "They are preferred to men, on account of their being naturally more dexterous with their fingers, and therefore being found to require less training," (p. 152). This really shows the difference between European watch manufacturing and the American system of watch manufacturing. In the American system, it does not matter that women are "naturally more dexterous with their fingers" because of the idea of interchangeable parts and machinery had already effected the manufacturing of products. It is interesting to see this difference in workers gender because where the European women are seen as useful workers, American women are not because they do not intend to work once they are married, so it is pointless to hire and train them if they are not going to stay for awhile. And while it is useful to hire women, just because they are the cheaper labor, they still are not able to reach higher posts than those of men. --Claire Brooks | This was a really interesting read because it made me realize the changing roles of women workers. The reading mentions, "They are preferred to men, on account of their being naturally more dexterous with their fingers, and therefore being found to require less training," (p. 152). This really shows the difference between European watch manufacturing and the American system of watch manufacturing. In the American system, it does not matter that women are "naturally more dexterous with their fingers" because of the idea of interchangeable parts and machinery had already effected the manufacturing of products. It is interesting to see this difference in workers gender because where the European women are seen as useful workers, American women are not because they do not intend to work once they are married, so it is pointless to hire and train them if they are not going to stay for awhile. And while it is useful to hire women, just because they are the cheaper labor, they still are not able to reach higher posts than those of men. --Claire Brooks | ||
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| + | The prospect of not using women for the job of watchmaking fully surprises me. Women were left home to do the "easier" tasks such as raising children and being a homemaker to her husband. This was a poor decision on the watch entrprenuer's part because they could have used the woman's delicate hands and attention to detail to its fullest potential WHILE paying less. Bringing women into the workforce earlier could have altered the course of women's rights and manufacturing. Wasn't the goal of the watch makers to maximize profits? I would have thought someone could have come up with this idea at the time or at least taken a European standpoint of this issue to see the benefits even if it was for a capitalistic (and greedy) goal. --Stephanie Lipscomb | ||
== Michael Adas, Machines as the Measure of Men, 221-232 == | == Michael Adas, Machines as the Measure of Men, 221-232 == | ||
