This Research Planning Grant for Women assesses women's participation in, and support for, working-class movements. The project specifically investigates womens strike involvement and support, employing the cases of the 1989-1990 United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) strike against Pittston Coal Company (USA) and the 1984-1985 National Union of Miners (NUM) strike against British Coal in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Women actively supported these strikes but were mobilized in contexts in which their standing was indirect. Only miners have direct standing and indentity in mining strikes, and, in the United States and Britain, miners are exclusively men. This planning grant develops a framework of movement standing with specific regard to women, and employs a modified political opportunity model for understanding women's movement activism. The planning grant promises to develop a model for comparing strike involvement and gender participation differences in two countries. The comparative nature of the project should enhance our understanding of these phenomena.
