International Women’s Day: Celebrating the Women Against Pit Closures
This International Women’s Day, Betteshanger is honouring the humble heroes of the Kent Coalfield. With the help of the Kent Mining Museum team, we’ve pieced together a picture of life for local miner’s wives – thanks to those in our local community who’ve taken the time to share their stories.
A war on dust
The Kent Coalfield story is one of a kind. Families from Scotland, the North East, Wales and the Midlands uprooted their lives and travelled hundreds of miles (sometimes on foot) to make a new home for themselves in Kent.
And while the men toiled away in the pits, the women kept the house. As if working the fields, raising children, cooking, cleaning and powering through the day-to-day errands wasn’t enough, women were waging a never ending war… against coal dust.
Before pit baths opened in the 1930s, miners would return home ‘in the black’ – covered from head to toe in coal dust after a long shift down the pit. Trailing mess through the home, women would need to help their husbands (and sons) wash away the soot in a bathtub by the fire.
So when it came to building new pit houses in villages like Aylesham, it comes as no surprise that the wives of local miners were very insistent on including ground floor bathrooms so their husbands weren’t traipsing coal dust through the house.
Local work for local women
Besides trying to keep their home as free from coal dust as possible, women took on other roles to support their families. Women would work in the canteens and medical stations at the pits, or take on clerical roles within local businesses.
In 1948, The Rego Shirt Factory opened in Aylesham – employing 160 women. It was the first local industry to provide work for local women.
Preserving a way of life
And so life went on, women taking the lead in the home and financially supporting their families by seeking out local work. Even though it was less that one hundred years ago, life for women in rural Kent was very different to our own contemporary lifestyles. Women mastered balancing the many facets of their lives without the modern comforts we’ve grown accustomed to in the 21st century.
And in 1984-5, women were given a platform to show just how formidable and resilient they could be. During the Miners’ Strike, women played a vital role in supporting over 2,000 Kent miners who went out on strike.
When miner’s wives heard about the conditions of the halls and shelters their men were having to sleep in while away from home, they pulled together to raise funds for striking miners and their families. With the help of the local community, house shares and more comfortable options for accommodation were provided, support groups were established and soup kitchens were set up to feed families in hardship.
Inspiring a national political movement
The activities undertaken by women in Kent inspired others. On a national level, ‘Women Against Pit Closures’ grew as a political movement from the efforts of local groups to support the Strike. Women who had previously had no political experience, emerged as gifted orators, organisers and campaigners.
Women were addressing crowds of supporters, rallying to protect a way of life. From a protest in Barnsley in May 1984, with a turn-out of 5000 women, to a march in London later that year, drawing a phenomenal 23,000 women, the movement swept across the country with fearsome speed. Women were picketing on the front lines with their husbands, sons, families and friends. Local women from Aylesham were finding themselves in confrontational situations with the police for the first time, being threatened with arrest.
Women of today
The Miners’ Strike inadvertently created a generation of women who were politically aware and who became politically involved.
A record 208 women MPs were elected to the House of Commons at the 2017 general election, a record high of 32%. Until the late 1980s, women had never made up more than 5% of all MPs. Women now play a larger role in politics, climbing ever higher on the career ladder. And it’s thanks to the women throughout history, like those fearsome campaigners from the Miners’ Strike, who helped pave the path for women to dominate the political sphere.
Get in touch
If you have a story to share from the Kent Coalfield, please get in touch with the Kent Mining Museum team: info@kmhf.org.uk
