Iron Ladies: women who were the backbone of the miners’ strike
Inspirational documentary tracks down those involved in the 1984 dispute to discover how it changed their lives
Friday, 3rd October — By Dan Carrier
Iron Ladies: a story of inspirational working-class women
IRON LADIES
Directed by Daniel Draper
Certificate: PG
☆☆☆☆☆
THIS inspiring documentary tells the stories of the working-class women who, in the 1984 Miners’ Strike, were catapulted to the forefront of one of the bitterest industrial disputes the UK has ever seen.
From the Kent coalfields through to South Wales, Yorkshire and up to Scotland, the stories of the women who stood side by side and became the backbone of the strike are told.
Director Daniel Draper has tracked down those involved and not only captured their stories of the time but how the strike has shaped their lives ever since.
We learn that the radicalism to fight for what was right had partly been forged through previous industrial clashes.
The interviewees recalled the strikes of the early 1970s when miners walked out over low pay and terrible conditions. They recalled the cold and the hunger, too: “I cried through 1972 and 1974,” says contributor Betty Cook.
“We were out for pay and decent working conditions. I remember the media saying the country was being held for ransom by the miners but the point was they had had terrible conditions and terrible wages for years. The strikes then were about pay, not pit closures. We did our part back then.”
The pit was a centre of communities – not just in terms of earning a daily wage, but through support networks, and of course through political discussion and work.
It meant many were brought up in a political atmosphere and were well-versed in British political history.
The interviewees recall how their parents had lived though the aftermath of the Great War and the horrors of the Second World War: they knew how a right-wing government was going to act, and they saw with Thatcher, neo-liberal movements were aiming to take the UK back to the Victorian era.
When the 1984 strike began, it wasn’t just the miners downing tools, it was entire communities working together to stop the pit closures.
Director Daniel Draper has found brilliant interviewees and given them the space to carefully evaluate what they went through and why.
In an age where we need yet again to roll up our sleeves and fight for the rights of the working class, this documentary is inspirational.
