Omförhandling i gruvan?

Om kön, arbete och förändring i den mansdominerade gruvnäringen

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the complexity of stability and change in terms of the relation of gender and work in traditionally male-dominated workplaces, and more specifically in the Swedish mining industry. Mining has for a long time had a close relationship to men and masculinity. From the 1980s until 2005, the proportion of women miners increased from three to six per cent, but during the last ten years the proportion of women miners has increased more rapidly and today the number of women is 15 per cent. What made and makes this change possible? In this article, we merge previous studies concerning mining, gender and organization with new empirical material. Interviews with 20 miners, both men and women, were carried out to present a framework for understanding the contemporary negotiations of gender and work. Our conclusion is that the change in gender patterns can be understood through the following three interlinked processes of stability and change concerning: 1) mining work 2) the relationship between professional identity and masculinity and 3) the companies’ work towards gender equality. Together, these processes create a different outcome than before. Although much is changing in the mining industry, the stability characterizing its gendered relations is at the same time both notably durable and persistent. There is a remaining theoretical challenge to better understand these processes of change, stability and negotiation concerning the relationship of gender and work.