Women Were a Major Workforce in French and European Mines 

Women played a key role in mining communities across France and were often required to do hard, manual labour above and under ground.

French history about women focuses on queens, Joan d’Arc and famous writers such as Simone de Beauvoir. While these women worked above ground, there were many nameless women in early history who worked the mines of France to support their families and provide access to minerals such as salt, iron, coal, chalk, gold and more. 

Their story is told in Mines, Temples & Parklands in Celtic Europe, the last of the Hidden Women series by Jacqueline Widmar Stewart. The book covers all of Europe in the time before the Roman and Christian conquests took over the continent and tells the story of the importance of mining for the culture of the time. France and its women were very much a part of that mining industry. 

“I think that women have always been part of the mines because it has been a key activity since the days of family domains,” said Stewart. “Families had to stick together to survive and I’m sure that women and children worked in the mines with men because they could access small spaces of the mine’s interior structure within the mountain.”  

Early mining in the Celtic time was strongly based on family workers. Mining camps were the base for all workers and women worked with the men dependent on the needs of their family. If a woman was strong, she worked underground using picks or other tools to remove the minerals or pulled the full carts outside the mine. If a woman became pregnant, she worked preparing food for the all miners – not just her family. Mothers took care of children, the housing and running the mining town. Moms and kids were often involved in sorting and sluice work above ground. 

The mining towns or camps included not only homes for families, but places for individuals to live, markets, abbeys, restaurants and fest halls of the times.  

“You can see the presence of women in French mines by the layout of the village,” said Stewart. “The market, the gathering hall, the secular abbey, the tended forests – and often the natural hot spring baths – were paramount to the mining culture.”  

The presence of women in mines is often seen in the ancient statuary of women uncovered in excavations, according to Stewart. Early mining artifacts include figures of women, some dancing, some working, all part of the mining society. In Châtillon-sur-Seine, an Iron Age treasure trove was found, including a woman’s grave with a gold choker and medallions representing mining, plus a huge jug with a smiling woman. In the salt mine area of Salins-les-Bains near the Swiss border, ancient fountains and statues show women working with salt. The earliest woman statue, Venus of Gave, was found in a stone age mine in Spain. She is pregnant but reflects a strong image. And in the old hall in Donzenac, France, is the figure of a dancing woman.   

“She is not a penitent, her head is not bowed – she’s holding her skirt and she’s swaying,” said Stewart. “Beer and wine have been around a long time – and we’ve seen this same kind of figurine in many ancient mining town beer halls. You must have food and drink to keep the miners alive – and women have been integral to this area.”  

France was full of mines at one time, although many have closed for economic, environmental and political reasons. According to Stewart, the invasion of the Romans and then the switch to Christianity eliminated woman as mine workers, insisting they be delegated to the home. The Industrial Revolution changed the working conditions in a mine to be difficult for all workers. 

“By the turn of the 20^th century, the working conditions turned dismal and, by the mid 20^th century, inhuman,” said Stewart.  “After the first World War in Germany women were used as slaves in the coal mines since so many men had been killed.  By the second World War, immigrants were used as slaves in the coal mines. . . Explosions and black lung disease claimed the lives of many miners.”   

Today in France, many mines are closed but can be visited or recognized as mining areas. The northern area of France around Lille and Lens (Nord-Pas de Calais) used to be a large coal mining area, but mining stopped in the late 1980s. The Musée du Louvre-Lens now brings visitors to the area who not only see the artwork in the museum but also the miner’s left over “artwork” of black mountains in the surrounding area. It is now a hiking and biking area but once was a very active mining community. 

Ancient mining areas can be recognized in many ways. Scars on mountains where they were taken apart to gain access to a mineral are seen throughout France. Other mining clues are mining tunnel entrances, high piles of leftover dirt and tailings, and distorted forests or areas that now grow grapes.  

“Mines and vines go together,” said Stewart. “Vineyards were planted after a mine closed where nothing else could grow.” 

An example is the champagne country, near Reims. Famous for its underground chalk that keeps the vines well-watered, it was originally a huge chalk mining area. Today, many of the champagne companies use the chalk mines to store and age their wine and the chalk tunnels provide a tour spot for visitors.  

There are many other French mining towns to explore in France including Salins-les-Bains which extracted salt since the Middle Ages but ceased production in 1962. According to Stewart, women working in mines and holding strong positions in town are represented in statuary found in the region. The mountains of Chamonix Mont-Blanc have long been mined for minerals including gold, sapphires, rubies, emeralds and other precious and semi-precious stones.  

Today women are still a part of mining in France, although a small part. The World Bank says they make up only 15% of the mining workforce but the industry is promoting expanding that number.  

“In my book, I treat women as integral to the entire mining operations throughout history, because that is what I see,” said Stewart. “Pre-Christian people honored their heroes and the gold jewelry that is often found in pre-Christian women’s graves was just that –an homage to women heroes. Heroes were recognized for their work in mineral wealth for the family, as well as defense of the family.” 

Perhaps today’s women miners need to wear gold jewelry to show the industry their true worth. 

Lead photo credit : Women in the coal mines of the Gard © Paul Thompson