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> Where and when did the superstition start about women in mines? When > did this end allowing women to work in mines? > Dawn, There was certainly no superstition attached to women working in coal mines in some British fields in the 19th century. It was common practice for women to work underground in, for example, the west Lancashire coalfield, up until mid century. (See Langton, J., 'The Proletarianisation of Colliers in 17th-18th Century Lancashire', in Paul Benoit et Catherine Verna (eds) Le charbon de terre en Europe occidentale avant l'usage industriel du coke, Turnhout, 1999, p. 147) The legislation of 1842 prohibiting the employment of women and children underground was not immediately effective and only slowly fell from 3.5 percent of the workforce in 1841 to 2.5 percent in 1851, and women still figured in the workforce at the end of the century. (See Church, R. , The History of the British Coal Industry, Vol. 3, Oxford, 1986, pp. 191-193). I understand, from discussion with Jack Langton following the presentation of his paper (above) at Liege in 1986, that the objection in the 1840s was not to the employment of women per se but the affront to Victorian morals in that the women worked at the face, and as hauliers, semi-naked. The Lancashire pits, and those in others fields where women were common underground, were small family run concerns wherewomen played an intergral part of the economic structure. I would suggest that the role of the woman underground diminished as the larger capital intensive collieries grew to dominate coal production, particularly as the new deep steam coal mines were opened up in South Wales and the concealed coalfields in the eastern parts of northern and midland England. The woman was then consigned to a supporting role at home and the myth, largely 19th century in origin, that the male was the dominant partner was developed. In the north-eastern coalfields, e.g. co. Durham, women had been excluded from the workforce by the first quarter of the 19th century and from then on decision making affecting the economy of the family was made through all male institutions which would have little difficulty in generating a superstition regarding women underground to restrict their options. (See, for example, Jaffe, James A., The Struggle for Market Power, (Cambridge,1991).) Go back to a medieval society and women were found in all sectors of the economy, be they plough drivers or entrepreneurs. The medieval mining record is largely silent on their employment underground - in fact I have seen but one stylised illustration of a woman working minerals - but, as most miners were invisible to the record, that is not surprising. Peter ______________________________________________ Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE. Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599 University of Exeter - Department of History School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies E-mail: [log in to unmask] Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list. See http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/mining-history/ for details. Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/ _____________________________________________ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%