Conclusion

Summary

The preceding pages indicate that the experiences of mining, fisher and farming women differed significantly. Indeed, they varied as much as the environments in which the women lived: grimy pit villages with pit heaps looming over them; picturesque, wind-blown fishing villages with boats drawn up on the white sand; isolated farms on the slopes of the Cheviot Hills or in the valleys, sheep scattered over them. It is true that in places such as Newbiggin-by-the Sea mining was conducted alongside fishing and, in some others, farming existed alongside fishing. Further south in the county, it co-existed with heavy industry. Yet for many communities the contrast did exist. This divergence in the experiences of these women indicates that we cannot assume that to be a woman meant the same thing, even within the working class, within the same region. A ‘good wife’ in a mining house-hold got up at all times of the night to prepare food, to wash the grime off her husband's back, to prepare endless baths if there was more than one worker in the household, to keep a spotless house in a grimy, dust-filled atmosphere and, when possible, to earn some extra money. In the case of some, to be a mining woman meant to play an important role in politics. Fisher women's role was quite different. They needed to be skilled in the day-long preparatory work necessary for line fishing, in packing herring, in managing the finances and in hawking fish from the creel.