Women in the Pottery Industry: A Case of Lost Potential

Until recently, women working in the pottery industry in Stoke-on-Trent, England have been in the majority as both workers and members of the union yet this dominance in numbers has not been reflected in terms of their power or status in the industry nor in their ability to protect their jobs. This latter aspect became particularly apparent in the recent recession when women's numbers in the industry dropped from 30,000 in 1977 to 17,000 in 1981, a drop of 49% compared to a 29% drop in men's jobs over the same period. Heidi Hartmann's theoretical framework which highlights the role played by male co-workers and co-unionists in maintaining the sexual segregation of labour in the workplace is used to try to understand the situation of the women pottery workers