Gender, coal mining, and Appalachia

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of women in Appalachian coal communities by utilizing both primary and secondary sources. The people of Appalachia have subscribed to patriarchal gender roles since the time of the earliest settlements within the region. Men dealt with the outside world while women's responsibilities centered around the home. Beginning around 1890, industrialization within the area intensified patriarchy as men became wage earners and women remained in the home with little access to formal wage employment. If wages were earned, they usually contributed to familial survival and not female independence. The feminist movement of the 1970s failed to radically alter the patriarchal character of Appalachia, as evidenced by women coal miners within the region during the 1970s and 1980s. These female miners worked within the traditional bounds of patriarchal ideology in that they labored to secure the survival of their families. But they met with harsh resistance from employers, supervisors, fellow miners, their communities, and even their own families because their wages did not contribute to a male-headed household. Their wages allowed them to live independently of men. It is argued here that coal communities in Appalachia continued to exhibit patriarchal tendencies that mandated women remain responsible for familial care and relegated to low-wage employment despite the employment of some women in the male-dominated coal industry.