
By the Sweat of Their Brow
Women workers at Victorian Coal Mines
Angela V. John(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 28. March 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
264 pages
978-0-415-85278-4 (ISBN)
Description
The pit brow lasses who sorted coal and performed a variety of jobs above ground at British coal mines prompted a violent debate about women's work in the nineteenth century.
Seen as the prime example of degraded womanhood, the pit brow woman was regarded as an aberration in a masculine domain, cruelly torn from her 'natural sphere', the home. The, attempt to restrict women's work at the mines in the 1880s highlights the dichotomy between the fashionable ideal of womanhood and the necessity and reality of female manual labour.
Although only a tiny percentage of the colliery labour force, the pit lasses aroused an interest out of all proportion to their numbers and their work became a test case for women's outdoor manual employment. Angela John discusses the implications of this debate, showing how it encapsulates many of the ambivalences of late Victorian attitudes towards working-class female employment, and at the same time raises wider questions both about women's work in industries seen as traditionally male enclaves, and about the ways in which women within the working community have been presented by historians.This book was first published in 1980.
Seen as the prime example of degraded womanhood, the pit brow woman was regarded as an aberration in a masculine domain, cruelly torn from her 'natural sphere', the home. The, attempt to restrict women's work at the mines in the 1880s highlights the dichotomy between the fashionable ideal of womanhood and the necessity and reality of female manual labour.
Although only a tiny percentage of the colliery labour force, the pit lasses aroused an interest out of all proportion to their numbers and their work became a test case for women's outdoor manual employment. Angela John discusses the implications of this debate, showing how it encapsulates many of the ambivalences of late Victorian attitudes towards working-class female employment, and at the same time raises wider questions both about women's work in industries seen as traditionally male enclaves, and about the ways in which women within the working community have been presented by historians.This book was first published in 1980.
Reviews / Votes
'Dr John's sympathetic yet critical writing is well set into the broader context of the late nineteenth century women's campaign and succeeds in bringing a little-known topic to the attention of historians in a lively and informative way.' - Kenneth D Brown, The Times Higher Education Supplement'Angela John, in her exciting and wide-ranging study, has restored the centrality of what was always a small percentage of the total mining force to our understanding of Victorian society.' David Smith, Welsh History Review
'Angela John's book fills one of the many important gaps in our knowledge women workers in the Victorian period.' - Frances Widdowson, Women's Research and Resources Centre, London
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
409 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-415-85278-4 (9780415852784)
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Schweitzer Classification
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E-Book
11/2013
1st Edition
Routledge
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E-Book
11/2013
1st Edition
Routledge
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Book
11/2005
1st Edition
Routledge
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Person
Angela V. John is an Honorary Professor at Swansea University. She is a historian and biographer, the author/editor of a dozen books. They include a biography of Henry Nevinson's wife Evelyn Sharp, suffragette, children's writer, journalist and pacifist. She is currently writing a biography of P.H. Burton.
Content
Acknowledgements Preface Part I: The Legacy Chapter 1. Below Ground Chapter 2. Exposition, Exclusion and Evasion Part II: At the Pit Brow Chapter 3. The Daily Work Chapter 4. The Headquarters Part III: The Test Case Chapter 5. The Confluence of Opinion Chapter 6. A Pit Brow Protest? Conclusion Epilogue Appendix I: Munby's Visits to Pit Women Appendix II: The Open Door Policy Bibliographical Note Index