Sunday, April 14, 2013

Women at work


Looking at the quality of this postcard, I would say that these women were at work between the wars. Their job was to sort the coal. Can you imagine how dangerous working in a coal mine would have been wearing long dresses or skirts?

6 comments:

alan said...

With all the men lost in the "War to End All Wars" in Europe, it's not surprising that women had to step into jobs like this long before their sisters here in America did!

I remember reading once in a history of Roxbury, Vt. (where my wife grew up) that the most common cause of death for women was burning to death; while cooking on woodstoves their dresses would catch fire and the cabin doors were barred...so horrifying!

alan

A Lady's Life said...

Yes and they proved what ever men could do women could do.

Doris said...

And the shoes they are wearing are hardly of the steel toe capped variety! What happened to the superstition that women were not allowed in a mine?

Anji said...

Alan: Women have always worked in the mines - Remember Victor Hugo's Germinal?

A lady's Life: yes, until the men came back again.

Doris: I didn't know that one!

Unknown said...

What a life. I don't think any of us can truly imagine how hard it was then...for everyone.

Anji said...

Isobel: I don't think that many of us would survive if we went back in time.