Question:
In another thread, Michael Snyder remarked on the lack of named
female fatalities in coal mining disasters. While the small
percentage of female miners and the decreasing number of fatalities
in recent years make it possible that no women died simply on
the basis of probability, I was motivated to do a bit of research
on the gender of coal mine fatalities.
Answer:
I suspect that Nella, Guiseppa, and Andrea are the names of women, but
I'm not sure.
The memorial at http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4987/memorial.html
lists the name of Mary K. 'Kat' Counts, who died in 1983. That's the most
recent name I've discovered.
If you really want to investigate the history of women in coal mining,
you need to visit http://cass.etsu.edu/ARCHIVES/AFINDAID/a355.html
If you're really curious about the role of women in coal mining,
try googling 'coal employment project'. Incidentally, the CEP closed
shop in 1999---a lack of membership due to declining jobs in the
coal mining field was cited as the reason for the demise of the
organization:
http://www.umwa.org/journal/VOL110NO4/julycep.shtml
My conclusion is that the scarcity of fatalities among female coal miners
is a result of the small numbers of female miners and declining fatalities
in mining operations. As recent mining employment declines, the percentage
of women has probably declined also---particularly as many of the women
miners had less job seniority than their male co-workers.
I'm not sure how you can say that finding references to both
female miners and the death of one or more female miners is
a failure to find any data whatsoever.
Perhaps calling my statement a 'conclusion' is what bothers you.
Would you feel better if I restated it as "I feel that the scarcity
of female mine fatalities is a result of the small number of
women miners and decreasing fatalities in coal mining"
As for the question of whether men and women miners face disproportionate
risks of fatal injury in mining accidents, nobody, myself included,
has provided enough data lead to a conclusive statement of the relative
risks. If the national coal miner's memorial ever comes up with a
list of names on the web, I might be able to get enough evidence
that there is something other than pure probability involved.
Strange factoid discovered at:http://www.census.gov/prod/3/97pubs/97statab/labor.pdf
While Coal mining is at the top of the list for occupational fatalities,
it isn't even in the top 20 for job-related non-fatal injuries! I guess
coal mining is an all-or-nothing type occupation---as opposed to meat
packing where the job takes you apart a finger or toe at a time!
