During the Meiji period, about 85 percent of all workers were women in the silk-reeling factories; women, including girls, from 13 to 25 years old were the age [Reference 1]. Women were positively employed in textile and cotton industries for two reasons. First, most of the textile industries were simple tasks, and did not require particular skills, so employers thought that the work was suitable for women since they were considered as dexterous compared to male workers, and a delicate manner of hands was necessary in order to process materials. Another reason was because female workers’ payments were half as much as male. The tasks might differ depending on sexuality, however, it is true that employers were able to save their labor costs by hiring women rather than men. Thus, under one of the new Japanese government’s slogans 殖産興業 (shokusan kōgyō), underclass women workers were recognized as a significant human resources that enhance industrial productivity particularly silk. 

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[Reference 1]

Elyssa Faison, Managing Women: Discipling Labor in Modern Japan, pp. 8

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