Women beneath the Surface: Coal and the Colonial State in India during the Second World War

Figures & data

Table 1 WOMEN WORKERS IN INDIAN COAL MINES (1939–1947).

Year	Women			Total number of Women Workers	Share of Women Workers^+
	Underground	Surface	Open		Underground	Surface	Open
1939	0	18191	4615	22806	–	41.9%	33.7%
1940	0	19288	5190	24478	–	42.1%	39.1%
1941
1942	0		8000*				40%*
1943	6000*		7000*		5.7%*		38.9%*
1944	19321	28355	13026	60682	19.2%	43%	36.8%
1945	22517	32910	16918	72345	21.3%	41.7%	35.5%
1946	10782	42620	23892	77294	10.6%	45.5%	40%
1947	0	44280	21631	65911	–	45%	40.6%

Sources: Annual Reports of the Chief Inspector of Mines in India, 1939–1947.

* Unofficial data from IOR/L/E/8/4892 (blank where data unavailable).

+ Share of women workers calculated against male unskilled workers.

FIGURE 1. UNDERGROUND DAILY WAGES (RUPEES) IN EASTERN COAL MINES, 1923–1947.

Sources: Annual Reports of the Chief Inspector of Mines in India, 1923–1947