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| Spirit of Independence: Cornish women lead the field |
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Page 2 of 3 Yet while they may not have known it, balmaidens were better off in some respects than their sisters outside the mines, most of whom worked in domestic service or in the clothing trades. Cornwall’s cost-book system gave women a significant degree of economic and personal freedom: unlike mining families in the north of England, Cornish miners weren’t housed by mine owners or under the same obligation to work set hours for one employer. As freelance workers could move from one mine to another, in search of better pay or working conditions, and before mines became tightly controlled limited liability companies in the 1890s, mineworkers, including balmaidens, often worked on quotas and could leave when their quota was fulfilled. Because most balmaidens were unmarried, the money they earned could be used to supplement the family income or, if they were allowed to keep some of their wages, it could pay for new clothes and jewellery. Journalists and visitors to Cornwall frequently commented on and criticised the way mining women managed to keep up with the latest fashions despite their poor living and working conditions. That women had a choice and used it to improve their lot is significant. In an era in which women were only just beginning to gain legal status and financial freedom, balmaidens were using the limited opportunities they had to change their own lives. “A lot of comment has been made about the choice women made to go into the mines,” says Lynne Mayers, author of the award-winning study of balmaidens published in 2004 by the Hypatia Trust. “They could and did choose: their only other option was domestic service, which offered much less freedom. They’d have to live in and would still be on duty at the end of the working day. Balmaidens went home at 6 or 7 o’clock. They were their own people.” Independence from rigid employment conditions also allowed Cornish miners to maintain their own culture, too. Continued reliance on fishing and farming alongside mining meant that feasts, fairs and festivals permeated the working year. Tools would be downed and whole communities could join in the celebrations. Of course, a degree of financial independence didn’t lead to an improvement to working or living conditions – as unskilled workers, balmaidens were the first to be laid off when times were tight. It also didn’t bring about an improvement in status. Indeed, the dearth of evidence also reveals much about what people thought about them. “From about 1870 balmaidens were looked down upon,” says Lynne Mayers. “People thought only the coarsest people did that kind of work. Even now, some people are embarrassed to admit some of their ancestors were balmaidens. Yet these women really were able to make a difference. They were at the forefront of strike action and had a real sense of identity. “The whole of British and imperial achievement wouldn’t have been possible without metal industries, and without Cornish industry. Balmaidens were key players in this, even if they didn’t know it,” she adds. Contemporary commentators were often shocked by the balmaidens’ determination to break with convention. Royal commissioners visiting Cornwall in the 1840s commented on the girls’ foul language and journalists’ criticisms of their lavish clothes and apparent over-enjoyment of their free time remain a testament to the balmaidens’ lifestyles in the absence of other first hand evidence. The publication of commission reports and journalists’ articles also helped to underline a radical line of thought: that women could work successfully outside the home and make financial contributions to their families and communities. Accounts of balmaidens’ limited autonomy, their economic value to productive industry and their ability to make choices about their lives helped plant seeds of equality that are still growing today. |
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