Early in the 19th century, it was disovered that women coal
miners worked below ground in the pits, often at the coal faces.
It can get very hot deeper down in the mines. Both men and women
miners must often strip off their clothes to bear the heat.
During the Victorian age, naked men and women together was a
shocking thing: the nation needed coal,
but obvious sexuality violated a Christian viewpoint! The opportunity
of challenging an irrational view of sex was lost! A commission was
appointed to deal with this problem in 1842. The result, of course,
was to whitewash the entire problem (and to forget about it). The
problems of women and children (as well as men), were forgotten.
Young children: exploited, no schooling, etc. The needs of miners
(men and women) ignored. Little, if any, social progress. What were
the views of Jane Austen? Jane Austen died in 1817, well before the
1842 Commission. However, women and children worked the coal mines
starting in 1322 (enough time to examine coal-mining problems)?
By the way, Charles Dickens was wealthy and complacent and never
examined Coal Mining in his novels.
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