Women at the coal face

Do you remember the debate about the possibility of women coal miners in the South Yorkshire Coalfield? 1980ish. Opposed at the time by both the NCB and the NUM.

Do you remember the debate about the possibility of women coal miners in the South Yorkshire Coalfield? 1980ish. Opposed at the time by both the NCB and the NUM.

And also illegal. Women and children under 10 years of age were banned from working underground by the 1842 Mines & Collieries Act.

Women were commonly found down pits before 1842.

They were better paid than those in the washeries.

There are some academics who put forward the idea that they were forced out with the help of the male dominated labour organizations.

some reading