The Involvement of the Women of the South Wales Coalfield In
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
“Not Just Supporting But Leading”: The Involvement of the Women of the South Wales Coalfield in the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike By Rebecca Davies Enrolment: 00068411 Thesis submitted for Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Glamorgan February 2010. ABSTRACT The 1984-85 miners’ strike dramatically changed the face of the South Wales Valleys. This dissertation will show that the women’s groups that played such a crucial supportive role in it were not the homogenous entity that has often been portrayed. They shared some comparable features with similar groups in English pit villages but there were also qualitative differences between the South Wales groups and their English counterparts and between the different Welsh groups themselves. There is evidence of tensions between the Welsh groups and disputes with the communities they were trying to assist, as well as clashes with local miners’ lodges and the South Wales NUM. At the same time women’s support groups, various in structure and purpose but united in the aim of supporting the miners, challenged and shifted the balance of established gender roles The miners’ strike evokes warm memories of communities bonding together to fight for their survival. This thesis investigates in detail the women involved in support groups to discover what impact their involvement made on their lives afterwards. Their role is contextualised by the long-standing tradition of Welsh women’s involvement in popular politics and industrial disputes; however, not all women discovered a new confidence arising from their involvement. But others did and for them this self-belief survived the strike and, in some cases, permanently altered their own lives. The activities of the women’s support groups confirmed changes in the social role of women that had been occurring since the 1960s in the coalfield communities of South Wales, and thereby contributed to a revision of the traditional notion of ‘communities’ which were changed by the very process of being defended. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Countless people have helped with this dissertation along the way. Firstly I would like to thank all the women interviewed who were so generous in sharing their time and memories. Without them, this work would not have been possible. Secondly, for the help and support of my tutors, the late Ursula Masson, Gareth Williams and Tim Jones. And lastly my family and friends, who were there to pick me up and urge me along when I needed a good push! Thank you. ‘The greatest solidarity of all was from the women of the coalfields, not 1 just supporting, but leading the miners alongside us.’ 1 Hywel Francis, History on our Side: Wales and the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike (Ferryside: Iconau, 2009), p. vii. CONTENTS Map 1: Relief Map of the South Wales Coalfield2………………………………Page v Map 2: The South Wales Coalfield in 1984 and 20093………………………….Page vi Introduction………………………………………………………………Page 1 Chapter 1: Women in Protest in Wales: An Historical Overview…………………Page 13 Chapter 2: The Strike…………………………………………………………………Page 64 Chapter 3: Women in the British Coalfields During 1984-85……………………...Page 98 Chapter 4: Welsh Women During the Strike………………………………………...Page 147 Chapter 5: Welsh Women After the Strike…………………………………………...Page 193 Conclusion………………………………………………………………….Page 241 Bibliography………………………………………………………………..Page 252 2 Chris Williams, Capitalism, Community and Conflict: The South Wales Coalfield, 1898-1947 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1998). 3 Hywel Francis, History on our Side: Wales and the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike (Ferryside: Iconau, 2009). INTRODUCTION The Miners’ Strike began on 12 March 1984 when the National Union of Mineworkers called out miners from all over Britain to stand against the National Coal Board and Government’s decision to close ‘unprofitable’ pits. The strike lasted for twelve months and many women played a prominent role. It has been said that they ‘organised and campaigned for the survival and future of their communities’.1 This thesis will explore the involvement of the women of South Wales in the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike. Many historians have commented that the strike is remembered for the fact that women organised together and helped on a scale that had not previously been seen.2 It might be expected that this significant shift must have had an impact on gender relations within the mining communities. The investigation of two main topics will therefore form the basis of this thesis: firstly, the historical nature of women’s involvement in the strike, in that their work will be examined in relation to its historical context, and secondly, its impact on gender relations. The main focus will be on the Welsh women’s support groups, on how they were formed, and on the nature and scale of their activities compared with previous disputes (1926, 1970s). In my view, discussing the historical context of Welsh women’s involvement in previous activities as a way of understanding their involvement in the 1984-85 dispute, and comparing these with support groups in other coalfields, will address the issue of the qualitative difference of the 1984-85 dispute which has been suggested by commentators. Secondly, the thesis asks the question did the dispute, and women’s involvement in it, bring about changes in gender relations which enabled the 1 Luana Dee & Katell Keineg (eds.) Women in Wales: A Documentary of Our Recent History Volume 1 (Cardiff: Womenwrite Press, 1987), p. 99. 2 Beatrix Campbell, ‘The Other Miners’ Strike: Role of Miners’ Wives During the Strike’ in New Statesman (London: 27 July 1984), pp. 8-10. 1 formation of new social identities? This question will require an analysis of continuing and widening activism and longer term change in the lives of individuals. The particular social configuration, culture and history of the South Wales Valleys had put constraints on the involvement women could have in public life before the strike. This also relates to how the strike itself emerged; the South Wales coalfield was different from other coalfields in that the collieries were so central to daily life and village communities. More than anywhere else in Britain, the communities of South Wales found the pits to be integral to their survival. This was mainly due to the geography of the South Wales Valleys in that the landscape made it very difficult for people to travel far to work on public transport, apart from south towards the coast in places such as Cardiff. This makes it an excellent area to study. Overall, the thesis will add to the work done on the strike itself. Comparisons can be drawn with other areas to understand whether or not women had similar experiences during the strike; there is for example, an excellent comparative account of the women’s activities in Nottinghamshire3 This dissertation will hopefully add to the growing body of continuing historical feminist research.4 Having grown up in the South Wales Valleys in a mining family, I soon became interested in mining history and the 1984-85 miners’ strike which led on to an interest in how the women of South Wales were involved in the strike.5 There is a substantial historiography that draws attention to the fact that the women of South Wales are often marginalized in the writing of history. Angela V. John and Deirdre Beddoe were the standard bearers of this investigation and Stefan Berger has reiterated the claim 3 Joan Witham, Hearts and Minds: The Story of the Women of Nottinghamshire in the Miners’ Strike, 1984-1985 (London: Canary Press, 1986). 4 Mike Lieven, ‘A ‘New History’ of the South Wales Coalfield?’ in Llafur, 8, 3 (2002), pp. 100-101. 5 Rebecca Davies, ‘An Examination into the impact of the 1984-5 miners’ strike on the villages of Aberfan and Merthyr Vale, and an investigation into the ‘community spirit’ in the area’ (unpublished MA thesis, University of Glamorgan, 2005). 2 more recently. He recognises that just as South Wales once relied on male-dominated industries (coal, iron and to some extent steel), so the history of the area is also male- dominated.6 Over the past forty years in Britain and thirty in Wales, there has been much more research into the history of women in Britain, and works such as those by Triona Holden,7 Sheila Rowbotham and Stephanie Linkogle,8 are additions to a growing historiography. Many books have been written about the strike in both Wales and Britain in general,9 and even about specific locations;10 women feature little in these accounts. Some works have analysed the role of women in the strike in other coalfields such as that by Joan Witham.11 For a perspective from the Welsh coalfield there is Jill Miller’s collection of interviews from the women of the Abertillery Women’s Group.12 However, this work does not analyse the effect the strike had on these women or how their lives continued afterwards. It is also geographically limited to one location. Another study by Jean Stead is an excellent account of what women did throughout Britain during the strike, yet does not assess whether this effort was historically different from anything women had been involved in during previous strikes. Its methodology is mainly oral interviews. As the book was published soon 6 Stefan Berger, ‘And What Should They Know of Wales?: Why Welsh History Needs Comparison’, in Llafur, 8, 3 (2002), p. 135. 7 Triona Holden, Queen Coal: Women of the Miners’ Strike (Stroud: Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2005). 8 Sheila Rowbotham & Stephanie Linkogle (eds.), Women Resist Globalization: Mobilizing for Livelihood and Rights (London: Zed Books, 2001). 9 For example, Huw Beynon (ed.) Digging Deeper: Issues in the Miners’ Strike (London: Verso, 1985); Raphael Samuel, Barbara Bloomfield & Guy Boanas (eds.) The Enemy Within: Pit Villages and the Miners’ Strike of 1984-85 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986); Welsh Campaign for Civil & Political Liberties (eds.) Striking Back (Cardiff: WCCPL and the NUM (South Wales Area), 1985); and Geoffrey Goodman, The Miners’ Strike (London: Pluto Press, 1985).