COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES OF CLASS AND GENDER - WORKING-CLASS WOMEN IN THE PITTSTON-COAL STRIKE

This article investigates the intersections and tensions between two c ollective identities, those of class and gender, for working-class wom en involved in supporting the 1989-1990 strike against Pittston Coal G roup in southwestern Virginia. In the case of this year-long (and ulti mately successful) strike, women were organized by United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) staff in strike support activities, but they also s ought to organize themselves as women, The tensions between their iden tity as members of the working class and their identity as women are r evealed by examining their forms of activism, their relationship with the UMWA, the divisions between groups of activist women, and the arti culation of women's involvement in the strike. The experiences of thes e women are briefly compared with women's activism in the 1984-1985 Br itish Coal strike, The article concludes by arguing that collective id entity is best understood as it emerges in response to specific contex ts.