role of women in the strike.
be the steel strip department.
all behind the strike,' Amy explains. picket lines.
all: "20 per cent -Atrica of Neither nor the The AMY, Jackie, and Paula are steelworkers for the British Steel Corporation at Stocksbridge in Sheffield, and are members of the ISTC. They spoke about the Paula works in the typing pool, Jackie is a clerk-typist, and Amy works in 'There are three shifts in the strip department, where we prepare steel for making into razor blades. There are about 40 women altogether, but on my shift there are only 14 women and about a hundred men. All the women are 'About 20 women do regular picket duty in the Sbeffield area. We go down to Barnsley quite regularly, and we do Hayden Nilos, a private steel firm.' Paula and Jackie went down to Sheerness on the Women Against Scabs contingent and were shocked by the violence of the police. 'We didn't see the anti-strike women through — either they stayed away or the police kept us apart. Before that they'd been down there every day shouting names at the pickets and eyen throwing tomatoes.
'When we heard that we thought we better get some of our women down there to give them a bit of the same. But they didn't turn up.' Although women from Stocksbridge were behind the strike it had been difficult getting office workers on 1o the picket lines. Jackie and Paula were about the only two who did regular picker duty. Some efforts had been made to contact the wives of male steelworkers but only a few had played any role on the As to their attitude to the ballot and BSC's latest offer, their placards said it No surrender'.