women's groups all over the county of was set up, which was called Derbyshire Derbvshire. A coordinating committee Women's Action Group. That's how it all began.
We organised our first meeting Duckmanton, because that was one of the first villages we'd been canvassing A group of Barnsley miners' and students came to that meeting.
But lots of groups were set up group. spontaneously, all over the country in a response to the strike. It was a kind of survival instinct I think.
Different We knew immediately that it was different from the last strike. from social security was taken away deemed to be strike pay that we didn get. So not only couldn't you pay your ills, but you hadn't enough money for food either. The groups were a reaction of the women to the fact that they had very little money, and were very, very worried about how they were going to feed their families.
It was quite staggering, meeting we had at Duckmanton, over 100 women turned up, all of them worried. Just them a little bit of confidence. It took a little bit of the fright out of the situation.
Once they knew there were hundreds of them in the same situation, bit of the fright went. And it wasn't very long before women were actually coming to us, saying 'how do we set up a group?'.
As there were so many groups all over the country, kind of things now to sort oul bullgages, bills, and so on, going out collecting for food and providing food parcels or setting up soup kitchens ed to be in contact with each other.
The first attempt at national coordination came just after the Barnsley Our first weekend meeting was at Northern College, near Barnsley. We didn't get the numbers right, we didn't get the representation right, but at least we all met together and a lot of discussion took place.
Out of that came our first national rally, in London in August. That rally had over 20,000 people, fantastic success. I think it was the first all realised how large our organisation was, movement we could be. Our recent International Day Chesterfield was rather a big success 100.
We were offered an office in the National Union of Mineworkers' national office in Sheffield. It was set up as a liaison office.
Our organisation strength to strength.
Thev set up a ONE OF the mest The £15 Pit Closures.
at the first cava representation.
Pit Closures troversy over this. all doing the same like giving advice on electricity miners. people who • we all needdependants We based our national COMMIELCC Phased on an absolutely tee. miner's wife, and how strong a event in ine suike has of women, a part the went The time came stay that way. ' Socialist Action 29 March 1985 important developments from the miners' strike was the emergence of a new movement of women built around the women's support groups, central to which was Women Against Many working class women from the mining communities are taking part in active polities for the first time. At meeting after meeting, the story is when we thought we must have proper HUsI launch ourselves as a properly organised body. We've got the name women AgainsI because that included everyone, not just miners' wives.
There's always been a bit of conSome women think it should only be female dependants of At the conference we decided that oftice would miners' wives and that representation would be, in the main, people who were miners, that the other people would be included as well.
national aelegatc on the same formula thạt the national executive of the NUM. is We have one delegate for each area of the coalfield. Ann Scargill and myself are ex officio on the committee. Neither of us have a vote and neither of us deprive a miner's wife from taking a position on the commitThe national treasurer is not a but most of the others Now we still have to get down to the problem of what we're going to do now ended. Even though the strike's ended the struggle has got to go on, and we want to stay together We are now quite a powerful body parcel of the women's movement, part and parcel of movement nolitical movement — and we want i We want to stay strong. the same: "Before it didn't mean anything to me. Now I understand what politics is all about - and I'm going to stay active.* Throughout the strike, has been prominent in the Women Against Pit Closures movement. She gave CAROL TURNER an overview of WAPC: how it began, what it's done, and where it wants to go now that the strike is over.
Certainly it's true in this area and, 1 know, in a lot of the other areas, that this past year has meant that a lot of women who were formerly unorganised have got themselves involved organisation which has done a very useful job during this strike.
think we were unique women have been involved in struggles in other areas, like the women, and even in the mining industry.
Derbyshire
worked down the pit in the there are records of them picketing and being arrested - all the kinds of things that we've been doing: There are other examples of women's struggles in the mining communities, for example, coming out and banging their dustbin lids when the scabs were going to work in But they were isolated munities, they didn't band This is what we have done this time.
We're not doing something absolutely But what has been done that to torm ourselves into organisation.
We've not only united the communities within each but also united the coalfields. Quite the op posite to what this government said we doing: dividing communitles.
dividing the mining industry.
sions came when the Coal the government started the back-toAt the beginning of the strike the Barnsley women were incensed by the Notts miner's wife who husband across the picket line and held up a toy gun saying she was going to shoot Arthur Scargill. 'that's it, we must organise ourselves. It's terrible that women are used in this way'.
The press women who are in support of their husbands being out on strike for their jobs. They only women who didn't want them out. For once they were forced to find a lot of husbands, their sons and their fathers wives fully who were on strike.
The press have still under-reported the women's movement. realised how strong it either under-reported or, misreported it. weren't given full coverage for the size and strength of them. very many TV programmes where the women's pickets were shown.
We had pickets, especially in Notts, where women came Yorkshire Derbyshire in an tinghamshire to do a women's picket.
I don't These went al the reques women. We went on those pickets to Greenham show weren't alone in Nottinghamshire. the women Women's Pickets women : 1850s and They showed the men who were going to work in Nottinghamshire that a lot of orner areas like the women's pickets -lot of violence on the women's pickets I went on, not coming from the women in com- but the police with us as with the men. I think it was done to intimidate the them feel that they wouldn't go again. because it was a frightening experience. A lot of women had rough handling from the police.
we've have dispute. They've learned a lot in a very short space of time. Now they're thirst to know more.
The diviBoard and of us to suffer as much as we have, but it's been short in terms of giving escorted They said:
didn't report all the wanted to report supported When they was, then they verv often Our demonstrations I haven't seen Move Noton every week due the of the and the men they In fact they were very successful.
women supported the strike from Certainly, I know the police didn't • there was a Fi ney were as violent women. make forget it.
Not about and how they Hundreds and hundreds of women ochE become politicised during this they've For instance, The strike seemed a long time for all munities much, ourselves an education. Women could never have done that by reading or going to classes. It's been done in action, and it's the quickest kind of education that they've ever had. They'll never only have women learned political parties and parliamen work, about their owI and how they work, they yet alout the moments meet learned tremendou.
about Greenham Common. its didn't retite to at om relate to didn't take seriously what the women there were doing. Now they do.
Pit It's Our portance coming up.
lost.
There gles On the future of Women Aga:
Closures, think the natio: organisation will be the body that p. on a couple of events a year, someth like that. The actual activities will much more area orientated.
already under discussio: whether to have some sort of forma: relationship with the union. , Areas have been askea to oring unis up in lnel groups and discuss what kind of rela tionship we should have with the NUM and what form it should take We've nad preliminary discussions with one o two officials of the NUM to sound out how they feel about it.
We don't want the NUM to think we're going to take them over!
organisation was formed to fight a battle which was theirs the union belonged to the men. But what that union is fighting for is of equal im Ener women the families. We still want to be part o that. There are plenty of struggles still Victories I don't think the strike has been Throughout this whole struggle we've had so many victories that we can count along the way: the strength and the growth of the women's movement has been phenomenal; the vast network