Coalmining Women
‘Coalmining Women’ is about women who have forced their way into “men's work” in order to gain access to a decent wage. In coal communities the well-paid jobs are down the mines. Women can only earn a quarter of a miner's salary by doing “women's work”. The film highlights the fact that equal access to highly paid work is denied to women by schooling and society: men are taught to expect danger, just as they are taught to handle tools. However, women's perspective on safety has led them to organise, to improve conditions for women and for men.
Interwoven into the history of women miners' employment (including a historical synopsis of the British situation) is an account by one woman, Barbara Angle, disabled in a mining accident.
‘Coalmining Women’ is a useful and informative film to use in discussion around health and safety, trades unions and women's labour history.
‘Coalmining Women’ is an important contribution to the growing archives of labour history and a stirring tribute to the women who fought for the right to mine this nation's coal. With clarity and insight, this film portrays the struggle of women miners against years of prejudice and superstition and celebrates their victory in gaining acceptance by their union brothers.
– R Trumka, UMWA
Description source: Circles catalogue (1987). Edited by Jenny Holland and Jane Harris.