Queen Coal? Why Remember Women of the 1984/85 Miners' Strike
Women In Their Own Words
The extracts below are from interviews recorded with 47 miners wives who were active in the 'Women Against Pit Closures' movement. The interviews are transcr ibed and held in the Women's Library, London in a collection called The Betty Heathfield Papers.
"When they were at work before, we used to think ‘poor buggers, going down there’. But I think now, I’d say it improved a lot of marriages because you can sit and talk and you’re on the same wavelength. Whereas before my husband would come home and say something about the coalface and you wouldn’t know what he was talking about. Boring. But now you’re on the same wavelength and you can sit down and talk. I think it’s done a lot of marriages good."
"Before the strike, I’ve always felt as I do now. But because he was on strike I though you’re not going to keep telling me what to do. I believe I’m right so I’ll go and do it [ . . .] My marriage has changed, but not for the better. For the worst. Because my husband resents the fact that I feel that I can do what I want to do. He still feels that I should do things that concern him all the time. He really resents me doing what I want to do. We will still have these arguments for the rest of my married life if it lasts that long. [. . .] I wonder if he’s just jealous. I can speak at meetings and my husband just can’t do that. He just can’t get up in front in people and speak."
"Women have become aware of a wider political arena. They know what it’s like in Northern Ireland. Those police have been trained over there and use their tactics on us here. To keep us down. They realise that the black communities in London have been harassed for years and years and years by the police and they know what it’s like now themselves. So in one sense this strike has been the best thing that’s happened because it’s woke you up to other people’s problems instead of your own . . .
"
Download the document 'Women's Work' to read more women's experiences of their families and communities during the 1984/85 Miners' Strike
(see Download link below).
Read more about 'Women in their own words' for
Post-War and
Victorian mining communities in the two related Coal Queens resources (see Related Links at bottom of this page).
Learning article provided by:
National Coal Mining Museum for England |
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