Mining Women presents eighteen new essays that illuminate how gender identities and inequality have been constructed historically and sustained in what could be hailed as the first truly global enterprise and arguably the most "masculine" of industries--mining. These essays explore gender relations and women's work and activism in different parts of the world and from multiple perspectives. They investigate not only gender's role in the domestic and cultural aspects of mining communities, but also its impact on the emerging industrial and capitalist system from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. Each essay is important for understanding the ways in which gender is imagined, lived, inscribed, and contested in specific historical and material contexts. As a whole, the volume reveals that despite the tremendous variation between industries, cultures, and national experiences, women have challenged the constraints of gender definitions on their lives and work.

"At last here is a book that links women and mining across time and place. In this lively and original collection we cross continents, enter many types of mines, explore male and female responses to women miners, and see how women from mining communities in many different parts of the world have met challenges. These riveting stories and reflections help our understanding of the intricacies of gender relations and reveal the value of international and comparative history. They speak volumes about the bravery, persistence, and networks of mining women, whether facing exclusion, superstition, sexism, or big business. This book too mines a rich seam."--Angela V. John, Honorary Professor of History, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and author of By The Sweat of Their Brow: Women Workers at Victorian Coal Mines

 

"Mining Women mines the historic and global variety of women’s participation in an industry commonly thought of as a masculine preserve. Spanning the mining industries of Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas from the 17th century to the present, Mining Women is a rich source for histories of women and gender, class and labor, mining and economic development. This transnational treasure challenges essentialist concepts of women’s work, options, or possibilities to reveal rich and complex patterns of gender, activism, and resistance."--Elizabeth Jameson, Imperial Oil & Lincoln McKay Chair in American Studies, University of Calgary, and author of All That Glitters: Class, Conflict, and Community in Cripple Creek

"Mining Women is a brilliantly conceived and adeptly realized book. The chapters' evenness in length, analytical purpose, and clarity are models to be followed for any edited collection. The book is sure to be assessed as pivotal literature in future scholarship in the field. It should also be mandatory reading for graduate students and also has a place in undergraduate surveys."--International Review of Social History