Mining Women Worldwide

Women and girls have historically been involved in mining operations in all parts of the world.

Click here for a picture gallery of women girls who have worked at the coal mines of Northern France and Belgium.

Click here for an account of a visit to a Silver Mine in Hungary, made by Julia Pardoe in 1841.

Click here for an account of Manganese Mining in Spain 1876.

Click here for an account of Tin Streaming in Malaysia 1936.

Click here for an account of Graphite Mining in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) 1910.

Click here for an overview of women in other parts of the world.Click here for quotations from various sources on Women and Mining Worldwide

For detailed papers on women in mining in Cuba, Gold Coast, Bolivia, Sweden, Japan, and USA, see Mining Women; Gender in the Development of a Global Industry 1670-2005, by Jaclyn J Glier and Laurie Mercer (Palgrove Macmillan 2006)

For Japan, Malaya, India, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Indonesia, Chia, Africa, Bolivia and Amazonia, see Women Miners in Developing Countries, edited by Kuntala Lahiri-dutt ans Martha MacIntyre (Ashgate 2006)

For a historical perspective on mining women in the USA, see A Mine of Her Own, by Sally Zanjani (University of Nebraska Press 1997), and experiences of women miners in America in the late 20th century, see Women in the Mines, by Marat Moore (Twain 1996)

For information on women and girls who worked at the calamine, galena and zinc mines of Borthern Italy please see our Links page