Outline Some of the Ways in Which Inequalities Have Changed over Time in South Wales.
Outline some of the ways in which inequalities have changed over time in South Wales.
The purpose of this assignment is to outline some of the ways that inequalities have changed over time in South Wales.
There are many inequalities in South Wales both historically and traditionally. Inequalities are variances in size and circumstances displaying a lack of equality. These are portrayed in South Wales from when deep coal mining was at its peak and when open cast mining was introduced and subsequently took over. This change, lead to a mass of job losses and left the men of Maerdy unable to obtain employment elsewhere as they had no other skills. This in turn meant that women of Maerdy were now able to work and had more options in what they could do. When deep coal mining was the main industry women were not allowed to work, even if their families were struggling on the low wages that their miner husbands were earning, they were expected to cook, clean and look after their children.
There were a lot of positive outcomes when the deep coal mines were open: One being a strong sense of community spirit, all of the men were employed and everyone supported each other. In 1984 when the miners went on strike for 12 months, the women of Maerdy became more independent as it was now up to them to put food on the table, the Maerdy Miners support group was established and women gradually began to achieve more independence. The miners’ strike saw the people of Maerdy come together as a community when their way of life was threatened and going to work together and coming back up together saw the community going through a ‘shared way of life’ (Learning Companion, 2009, p. 22). Even though people talked about a shared way of life this was not always shared across gender and generation, there were clear differences between the worlds of women and men and even today there is one pub in the small town of Maerdy that women aren’t allowed to drink in, they’re good enough to work
The purpose of this assignment is to outline some of the ways that inequalities have changed over time in South Wales.
There are many inequalities in South Wales both historically and traditionally. Inequalities are variances in size and circumstances displaying a lack of equality. These are portrayed in South Wales from when deep coal mining was at its peak and when open cast mining was introduced and subsequently took over. This change, lead to a mass of job losses and left the men of Maerdy unable to obtain employment elsewhere as they had no other skills. This in turn meant that women of Maerdy were now able to work and had more options in what they could do. When deep coal mining was the main industry women were not allowed to work, even if their families were struggling on the low wages that their miner husbands were earning, they were expected to cook, clean and look after their children.
There were a lot of positive outcomes when the deep coal mines were open: One being a strong sense of community spirit, all of the men were employed and everyone supported each other. In 1984 when the miners went on strike for 12 months, the women of Maerdy became more independent as it was now up to them to put food on the table, the Maerdy Miners support group was established and women gradually began to achieve more independence. The miners’ strike saw the people of Maerdy come together as a community when their way of life was threatened and going to work together and coming back up together saw the community going through a ‘shared way of life’ (Learning Companion, 2009, p. 22). Even though people talked about a shared way of life this was not always shared across gender and generation, there were clear differences between the worlds of women and men and even today there is one pub in the small town of Maerdy that women aren’t allowed to drink in, they’re good enough to work