Journal of Southern African Studies
The Household and the Mine Shaft: Gender and Class Struggles on the Zambian Copperbelt,
1926-64
Author(s): Jane L. Parpart
Source: Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1 (Oct., 1986), pp. 36-56
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
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Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies, Vol. 13, No. 1, October 1986
The Household and the Mine Shaft:
Genderand Class Struggles on the
Zambian Copperbelt,1926-64
JANE L. PARPART
The study of labour and trade unions in southernAfrica has generally focused on
male waged workers rather than their families or communities. This is no doubt
partly due to the importance of migrant labour, which highlights male worker
exploitationwhile obscuringthe role of women andchildren. Althoughscholarsnow
acknowledge rural-basedmigrant families' contributionto capital accumulation,I
their absence at the point of production, and a preoccupationwith labour-capital
relationsin the workplace, has led scholars to underestimatewomen and children's
contributionto class formationand struggle in southernAfrica. Absent wives and
families are not expectedto engage in class struggle, nor indeedare the few workers'
families residing in town. The demands of family life, particularlyhusband-wife
relations,have not been seen as a significantfactorin labour-capitalrelations.2 Thus
women and families, except those few wage-earningfemale heads of households,3
have been assigned an insignificantand secondary role in working class struggles.
The Zambiancopperindustry4 providesan interestingcontrastto most of southern
Africa as managementpermittedwives and childrento live in company compounds
from the industry's inception in 1926. Although labour historians have generally
ignored Zambianmineworkers'wives and families, copper industrymanagement,
unlikeits SouthAfricancounterparts,believed residentwives would both reducethe
costs of daily (and later generational) labour reproduction and ensure a more
' H. Wolpe, 'Capitalismand CheapLabour-Power in SouthAfrica: From Segregationto Apartheid',
Economyand Society, 1, 4 (1972); Colin Murray,Families Divided (London, 1981).
2 Belinda Bozzoli, 'Marxism, Feminism and South African Studies', Journal of Southern African
Studies (JSAS), 9, 2 (April, 1983), 159.
3 Iris Berger, 'Sources of Class Consciousness: The Experience of Women Workers in South Africa,
1973-1980', in Iris Berger and Claire Robertson(eds.), Womenand Class in Africa (Holmes and Meier,
1986).
4Two mining companies dominatedthe Copperbelt:Anglo American (AA) and RhodesianSelection
Trust (RST). The two major RST mines were Roan Antelope Copper Mine (RACM) and Mufulira
Copper Mine (MCM). The two major AA mines were RhokanaCopper Mine (Nkana) and Nchanga
ConsolidatedCopper Mine (NCCM). They are located in the towns of Luanshya, Mufulira, Kitwe and
Chingola, respectively.
? Oxford University Press 1986
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The Household and the Mine Shaft
37
tractablelabour force. To facilitate this, managementadopted a number of strategies, rangingfrom positive inducements,such as trainingwomen in homecraftand
childcare, to placing checks on economic activities for women on the assumption
thatdependentwives (whetherlegal or common-law)would be more apt to provide
reproductiveservices and reliable family-orientedworkers.
George Chauncey has eloquently demonstratedwomen's capacity to overcome
these strictures.Copperbeltwomen emerge as forceful, creative entrepreneurswho
use their economic activities and scarcityvalue to gain 'unusualpower in relationto
men'.5 He does not, however, investigatewhethergender struggles in mine households affectedwomen's willingness to cooperatewith capitalto ensurethe reproduction of labour, or the degree to which women supported or impeded labour's
struggles with capital.
This paper sets out to examine gender relations in African copper mining
households, and the role of miners' wives in the struggles between African labour
and the copper companies in NorthernRhodesia (now Zambia)duringthe colonial
period (1926-64). It examines corporate attempts to control women in the mine
compounds, but challenges the companies' claim that they created a conservative
women's presence in the compounds. At the same time, it rejects the notion that
miners' wives simply adopted the attitudes of their male partners. Although the
interests of reproductiveand productive labour frequently coincided, leading to
cooperationagainst capital, the natureof this cooperationwas affected by gender
struggleswithinworkerhouseholdsas well as by commonconcernsvis-a-vis capital.
The paper consequentlyasserts the need to examine both gender and class in order
fully to understandlabour-capitalrelations on the Copperbeltand elsewhere.
Womenin the Mine Compounds
From their inception, the NorthernRhodesiancopper mines were forced to accept
some marriedblack workers in order to compete for labour. Unlike mines further
south, neighbouring Union Miniere du Haut Katanga and Broken Hill Mining
Companypermittedminersto bringdependantsto the mine. This policy's popularity
forced the Copperbelt companies to duplicate it, for 'in the early days it was
practicallyimpossible to get labour, and so when a native offered himself for work,
we were only too pleased to take them together with their wives and families'. 6
Initially, the copper companiesonly reluctantlyencouragedmarriedlabour;they
resented the cost of housing and feeding women and children.7 Anglo American,
with its South African traditionof migrantlabour, tried to limit marriedlabour by
relyingprimarilyon unskilledworkers. However, by 1943, even William Scrivener,
an Anglo American compound manager, admittedthat 'the married employee is
undoubtedlymore contentedthanthe single, he is betterfed, looked afterandclothed
5 George Chauncey, Jr., 'The Locus of Reproduction:Women's Labourin the ZambianCopperbelt,
1927-1953', JSAS, 7, 2 (April, 1981), 152.
6 Roan Consolidated Mines (RCM)/WMA 65, file 205:5, compound manager (CM), C. F. Spearpoint, RACM, to general manager(GM), 16 November 1938.
7 The extracost for a marriedman at thattime was estimatedat about6 pence per day. RCM/KMA 17,
NorthernRhodesia Chamberof Mines (NRCM), Memo on Native LabourPolicy, September 1944.
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38
Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies
and has the rudimentsof a sense of responsibilitywhich tends to make him a more
stable and efficient worker'. 8 Marriedworkers averagedthirtytickets (each representing a month's work) comparedto the twelve tickets worked by single men. By
1944, all the Copperbeltcompound managersagreed that the greater stability and
productivityof marriedlabour more than compensatedfor extra costs. And in that
year, a NorthernRhodesia Chamberof Mines (NRCM) memo stated that 'Everything points to the desirability of setting and maintainingmarried strengthsat the
highest figure.'9
As the mining companies began to recognise the profitability of maintaininga
more skilled stableblack workforce, they became increasinglycommittedto married
labour.10 As a result, both the percentageof marriedworkersandthe averagelength
of employmentrose steadilythroughoutthe colonial period. In 1931, 30 per cent of
the 15,876 black mine employees lived with their wives at the mines. By 1961, this
figure varied between 71 and 81 per cent. " The labour turnoverrate fell accordingly. In 1952, the turnoverratefor black minerswas 60.1 per cent. By 1959, it had
fallen to 27.9 per cent andby 1964, to.8.3 per cent, even lower thanthatof European
labour.12
If anything, these figures underestimatestabilisationon the Copperbelt. Many
miners changed employers without returninghome, thus appearingon company
records as short-term employees while actually living for long periods in the
Copperbelt.Women could, of course, stay longer by changing partners. It seems
that many did; as anthropologistAudrey Richardscomplainedin 1935, 'women in
the mine areas don't seem to go back to the villages and settle down as the men do'.
In 1943 Lynn Saffery, a LabourDepartmentresearcher,discoveredthat33 per cent
of the women living in Nkanamine townshiphadbeen therefor threeyears or more,
and many had not visited home since leaving for town. 3 This trend continued
throughoutthe colonial period.
GovernmentPolicy
The NorthernRhodesiangovernmentwas more sceptical about permittingwomen
and children in the mine compounds. Still uncertainabout the industry's future,
during the financially constrained 1930s government officials relied heavily on
8 RCM file 202.7 (1 and 2), CM, W. Scrivener to GM, Nkana, 20 March 1943.
9 RCM/KMA 17, NRCM, Memo on Native Labour Policy, September 1944. This was later made
general policy at the JohannesburgConferenceof the two mining companies;RCM file 202.7 (1 and 2),
NRCM to all general managers, 19 December 1946.
10 In 1942, H. H. Field, CM, Mufulira, admittedunskilled black labourcost the company ls.9d. per
day, while white unskilled labourcost 7s.6d. to lOs. per day. He believed, 'Whites in the underground,
especially of handymanquality, are over paid'. RCM/KMA 17, Field to GM, MCM, 1 September1942.
" AnnualReportuponNativeAffairs, 1931; AnnualReportsof the Departmentof Labour, 1951, 1956,
1961; A. Pim and S. Milligan, Report of the Commissionappointed to enquire into the Financial and
Economic Position of NorthernRhodesia (Colonial No. 145 of 1938), 42, 45. (The Pim Report)
12 Report of the Commissionof Inquiry into the Mining Industry(Lusaka, 1966), Appendix 7. (The
Brown Report)
13 Council of BritishMissions (CBM) Box 1213, LMS, Londonto Agnes Fraser, Luanshya, 15 March
1935; Lynn Saffery, A Report on Some Aspects of African Living Conditionson the Copper Belt of
NorthernRhodesia (Lusaka, 1943), 41. (The SafferyReport)
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The Household and the Mine Shaft
39
traditionalauthoritystructuresto maintainorder in the rural areas. They sympathised with chiefly complaints about women running off to the Copperbelt, and
respondedby giving ruralleaders (Native Authoritiesafter 1930) the right to issue
marriagecertificatesandto grant, or refuse, permissionfor urbanvisits. In 1939, the
government even set up blockades at bus stops to remove unregisteredwomen. 14
Officials urged the mines to cooperateby only permittingregistereddependantsin
the compounds.
15
In 1936, the governmentset up UrbanAfrican Courtsto increase chiefly control
over urbanAfricans, especially women. Court representativeswere appointedby
ruralleaders. They spent about70 per cent of their time on matrimonialcases. The
courts also began registeringurbanmarriages,which still requiredpermissionfrom
ruralelders. Above all, the court assessors sought to ensure maritalstabilityand to
enforce traditionalnorms on urban couples. They opposed single women on the
Copperbeltand encouragedgovernmentand mine police to search the compounds
for such women, fine them and have them repatriated.16 The courts thus provideda
mechanism which mine and government officials could use to curtail women's
activities on the Copperbelt.
Colonial authorities also tried to limit female incomes on the assumption that
African women in town shouldbe dependants,not potentiallytroublesomeindependent women. Governmentofficials repeatedly,althoughoften unsuccessfully, tried
to crack down on prostitution, as that was a major source of income for single
women. Beer brewing also provided income for African women until the
governmentdeclared private brewing illegal in the urbanareas in the early 1930s.
The profits gained from government beer halls paid for welfare and recreational
schemes designed both to maintainorder at African expense and to limit economic
opportunitiesfor women. 17
In general, the government opposed the establishment of a permanenturban
Africanpopulationin NorthernRhodesia. While some stabilisationwas acceptedas
inevitable, it was not encouraged. Minimal urbansocial services were designed to
discouragepermanentAfrican residence, and Africans were categorisedby tribe in
order to reinforce their rural identity. This policy continued until the Federation
(1953-1964) brought supportfor a small residentialAfrican working class. 18
'4 NR African RepresentativesCouncil, 1st Session, November 1946; Jim Ault, 'Traditionalizing
"Modern" Marriage:a Neglected Aspect of Social Struggleon the ZambianCopperbelt', 1976 (mimeo);
Zambian Archives (ZA)/SEC/1350, NR police inspector, Fort Jameson, to deputy commissioner of
police, Lusaka, 1 February1940.
15 Colonial Office (CO) 795/91/45109/3, Minutesof the Native IndustrialLabourAdvisory Board, 26
July 1937.
16 Annual Report upon Native Affairs, 1938; ZA/SEC/NAT/66G, Chingola Station, Annual Report,
1939; ZA/SEC/NAT/264, Meeting of the UrbanCourtAssessors, Ndola, 5 April 1945; ZA/Acc. 72/13,
Meeting of the native courts of the Copperbelt, Mufulira, 12 May 1939.
17 CharlesM. Coulter, 'The Sociological Problem', in J. Merle Davis (ed.), ModernIndustryand the
African(2nd. ed., London, 1967), 77; ZA/7/4/25, District Officer (DO) T.S.L. Fox-Pitt, Ndola District
Tour Report, 1931.
18 For more detail, see Elena L. Berger, Labour, Race, and Colonial Rule (Oxford, 1974).
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40
Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies
Initial CorporatePolicy
While concernedto maintaingood relationswith government,the miningcompanies
were determinedto protect their profit margins as well, and managementbelieved
resident wives would help achieve that goal. At the same time, managementnever
expected African employees to settle permanentlyat the mines, and so initially
simply tried to maintain order and a sufficient supply of women. As a result,
regulations about women were quite lax. Female visitors thronged to the compounds. Although the companies ostensibly controlled this influx through a pass
system, the compoundmanagerswere fairly lenient about passes, believing that 'a
certainproportionof free women is healthyas a safeguardto legitimatewives'. 19 The
mine police made regularsweeps throughthe compoundslooking for unauthorised
women, but wary visitors could easily avoid arrest. Besides, men outnumbered
women, andunauthorisedvisitors soon foundmale companionsto set up house with.
A woman only had to live with a man for a week and cook his food to be recognised
as his 'wife',20 thus gaining legitimate access to her partner's housing. Such
temporary alliances flourished, and women moved easily from man to man,
changing partnerswhen it suited their interests. A 1932 Copperbeltstudy reported
that 'serial wifehood is common . . . Detection is difficult, and [mine] location
managers find it discreet, unless serious family trouble should develop, not to
inquiretoo closely into the maritalrelationshipsof their wards.' 21
Managementrealisedwomen in the mine compoundswould create new problems
and expenses, but assumedthe potentialrewardsto capital outweighedthe difficulties. As Roan's compoundmanagerput it, 'In general, women give a fair amountof
trouble, but this is offset by the care they take of their husbands.'22In order to
minimise the trouble and encouragethe benefits, the companies initially evolved a
numberof strategies.But cost remainedthe 'bottomline'. Managementmade every
effort to reduce the cost of marriedlabourthrougheconomies of scale, inadequate
housing, minimalfamily rations, and limited medicalfacilities. 23 Corporatewelfare
and recreationalfacilities existed on paper, but functioned poorly in practice. At
Rhokana, for example, a former missionary carried on a pathetic hobby shop and
welfare programme,but despite complaints that he was bothering miners' wives,
managementrefused to fire him. 24
'9 ZA/SEC/LAB/45, labour officer (LO), Visit to Nkana and Mindolo, 7-11 April 1942; ZA/SEC/
LAB/57, NRCM to Provincial Commissioner30 August 1944.
20 F. Spearpoint,'The African Native and the RhodesiaCopper Mines', Supplementto the Journal of
the Royal Africa Society, xxxvi, CXLIV (July, 1937), 37.
21 Coulter, 'Sociological Problems', 77, 401. This study was conducted by the International
MissionaryCouncil. The Commisssion interviewedthree men about to returnhome. One was married,
but left his statuswife at home. While in the mines, he lived in marriedquarterswith a woman inherited
from a kinsmanwho had returnedhome. The worker in questionpassed on this woman to someone else
'by a sub-rosaarrangementas common as it is difficult to detect'.
22 Spearpoint, 'The African Native', 38.
23 RCM file 202.7 (1 and 2), CM, Scrivener to GM, 26 March 1942; P. Kambafwile, union leader,
interview, Mufulira, 9 September 1976.
24 ZA/KSN 3/1/4, Annual Report, Ndola District, 1932; ZA/KSN 3/1/5, Annual Report, Ndola
District, 1933; ZA/Acc. 72/1/1, undergroundpeople, compound office, Nkana, to the Secretary of
Native Affairs (SNA), early 1930s.
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The Household and the Mine Shaft
41
In order to maintain order and reduce labour costs, the companies sought
inexpensiveways to keep women busy and family-oriented.Believing that '[lack ofl
suitable occupation is one of the chief difficulties in dealing with the woman
question',25 the compoundmanagerstried, often unsuccessfully,to makewives clear
around their houses. The compound managers also supportedincome-generating
schemes such as gardeningand beer-brewing.These activities, however, foundered
in the face of government opposition. The mines eventually agreed to limit both
gardenplots and privatebeer-brewing.Women still gardenedon a smallerscale and
illegal brewingcontinuedto provide readycash for those women willing to flout the
law. Since one beer-brew sometimes realised more than a man's monthly wages,
many women took the chance, but always constrainedby the fear of expulsion.26
Thus while recognising women's contributionsto the daily reproductionof labour,
the companies thought they could get away with minimal services for miners'
dependants. In the early 1930s, managers never anticipated strike action from
non-unionisedAfrican labour, nor did they anticipateprovocationor participation
by women. Events were to prove them wrong.
The 1935 Strike
Much to the surpriseof both corporateand governmentofficials, in April 1935 the
entire African mine workforcewent on striketo protestagainsta tax increase. After
a bloody confrontationat Roan, the miners reluctantlyreturnedto work without
achieving their goals, but the myth that African miners were neitherconscious nor
able to organisehad been broken. We have little evidence of women's participation,
but most compoundinhabitantswere drawninto the many mass meetings duringthe
strike. Women and children were in the crowd at Roan's fateful shooting incident.
The strikers also threatened wives and children of uncooperative miners, thus
linking dependantsto the status of their male protectors.27
However, their influence shows up most clearly in strikers' demands. Miners,
especially married miners, complained bitterly to the strike commission about
inadequatefood. 28 Marriedworkersinsistedthey could not pay the new tax and still
feed and clothe their families on their small salaries. Witnesses also complained
abouthousing, especially for families, and healthcare for dependants.Thus, many
of the miners' complaintsrelatedto the inferiorconditionsexperiencedby both men
and women in the daily reproductionof labour.29
These complaintswere undoubtedlyexacerbatedby competitionfor women in the
mine compoundsand the knowledge that unsatisfied 'wives' could search out more
generous partners. As we have seen, demography improved female bargaining
25 A. I1-Rhokana (R), African PersonnelManager(APM), monthlycompoundreport, January1935.
26
RCM/WMA 65 (205.5), Spearpointto GM, Roan, 16 November 1938; ZA/KSN 3/l/l, Ndola
districtreport, 1934. A woman could earn from ?1 to ?2 per brew after expenses. Chauncey, 'The Locus
of Reproduction', 145.
27 The Commissionappointedto enquire into the Disturbancesin the Copperbelt,NorthernRhodesia,
1935, Cmd. 5009 of 1935 (The Russell Commission).Evidence, H. H. Field, CM, Roan, 627.
28 Russell Commissionevidence, Manyoni Mutwalo, clerk, 772, Kabuyu, Roan, 340, Samson Chilazia, undergroundboss boy, 801.
29 Russell Commissionevidence, Ernest Muwamba,clerk, 873, Eliti Tuli Phili, clerk, 758.
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42
Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies
power. Women providedmen with householdservices, supplementalfood and even
income. They recognised their worth and expected certain benefits in return,
especially European clothing and utensils. Some women even had servants and
labourersto work their gardens, which only increasedthe stakes.30 These expectations, played out in a period of post-Depressionwage reductions, increasedproletarianisation, and intense competition over women no doubt added fuel to the
strikers' complaintsin 1935.
CorporateResponse
Both companies dismissed the strike as a tax riot, and refused to alter their labour
policies radically.However, continuedlabourshortagesandthe fear thatdisgruntled
women might convince miners to change employers,31 forced them to adopt one
significantpolicy change. For the first time, managementbecame more receptiveto
missionarywork in the mine compounds,turningto the recentlyformedecumenical
United Missions in the Copperbelt(UMCB) for help. With the tacit understanding
that missionaries would avoid industrialmatters, the companies supportedUMCB
programmesin the hope thatthey would keep wives busy and out of mischief while
teaching them how to stretch their husbands' meagre wages. The UMCB classes
reached several hundredwomen, and provided opportunitiesto learn English, as
well as handiworkand domestic science. 32
The 1940 Strike
Having made these changes, management at both mining companies relaxed,
assumingestablishedpolicy could control African labour. In 1940, anotherAfrican
strikedestroyedthis illusion, and once again women and women's issues were at the
forefront. Before the major strike, a near riot and short strikeoccurredat Nchanga
mine when a woman in the food lines quarrelledwith a compoundofficial over her
ration allotment. The official struck the woman, and an angry crowd of men and
women attackedhim in retaliation.The next day work stoppedandthe entireAfrican
community demanded an apology, including the public beating of a European
couple, more rationsand betterpay. Work only resumedafterthe offending official
had been punishedand ration reforms secured.33
30 CBM Box 1213, Audrey Richards, 'Girls in Mining Locations', talk at Africa Circle, Londen,
November 1934; The Pim Report, 42. As a point of comparison, before the 1930s, some wives at
SouthernRhodesianmines 'refusedto do menialservice and forcedtheir husbandsto employ boys for that
purpose'. Coulter, 'Sociological Problem', 63.
" A. 11-(R), Monthly CompoundReport, June-Aug. 1935; RCM/WMA 65 (205.5), Spearpointto
GM, Roan, 16 November 1938.
32 LMS Box 28, R. J. B. Moore to foreign secretaryfor Africa, C. T. Brown, 30 December 1934 and
5 March 1935. Moore claimed that 'The strike has had a good effect in that it has thoroughlyfrightened
everyone, and if these reform measures are to be introduced,now is the time to do so.' Rev. R. J. B.
Moore to Overseas President of YMCA, 0. McCowen, Esq., 5 November 1935; CBM Box 1211,
'Evangelism among women in Urban Areas', General Missionary Conferenceof NorthernRhodesia,
1944; United Missions in the Copperbelt(UMCB), Annual Reports, 1938-44.
3 Reportof the Commissionappointedto inquire into the disturbancesin the Copperbeltof Northern
Rhodesia (Lusaka, 1941), 13. (The Forster Report)
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The Household and the Mine Shaft
43
Women also participatedin the much better organised strikes that followed at
Nkanaand Mufulira.Mufulira'selected strikeleaders urgedwomen and childrento
attend strike meetings, and the resulting cooperation in the compounds no doubt
contributedto the strike's peaceful resolution. At Nkana, unofficial leaders maintainedremarkablecontrolover the compoundsuntilthe tragic shootingincident.The
leaders again included women and children in their strike strategy. They had
workers and their wives sleep en masse on the football field to build feelings of
solidarity. As one eye witness reported, everyone was involved. People clustered
about in the compound discussing the strike. 'Everyone, man, woman and child,
knew all the argumentsby heart, andtold each otherthe legends andparablesused to
drive their case home [with management].'34
Family problems in the compounds featured prominently in strike leaders'
rhetoric,both to encourageworkersolidarityduringthe strikeandto arguedemands
with management.In an early organisationalmeetingat Nkana, for example, a strike
leader soughtto galvanise supportfrom a mixed crowd by recountinga story abouta
friend's wife who had had to deliver her baby in a crowded room. Such shameful
lack of privacy, the high cost of firewood and food, and low wages, called for 'a
good high wage [demand], more than we expect to get'.35 Strike leaders at both
mines argued that wages, housing and rations were inadequate, especially for
families. While skilled minershaggledover wage/skill differentials,andcomplained
of special needs, everyone agreedthateven unskilledminers shouldbe able to afford
a decent family life. 36 Thus the rudimentsof an argumentfor a 'family wage' were
emerging on the Copperbelt, albeit still only aimed at ensuring labour's daily
reproduction.
These demands reflected frustrationswith families' material life in the mine
compounds. Housing and rations remainedinadequate,and wages, even for more
skilled workers, barely covered the minimal costs of family life. Despite a small
wage hike afterthe strike, in 1942 a UMCB missionarycalculatedthatthe minimum
wage needed by a married miner was well over double the actual minimum. He
estimatedthata first year marriedmineron surfacework would have almost nothing
left after purchasingadditionalfood. 3
Rising expectations made matters worse. As we have seen, women quickly
acquirednew standardsof dress and consumptionin the mine compounds. As one
CM reported,'Womencome to the compoundsvery meekly. Thenthe next time you
see them, they have donneda dress of stylish cut, and wearing shoes and stockings,
they swaggeralong carryingthe babyon theirback.' 38 Both women andmen coveted
Europeanclothes, and social events requiringEuropeandress, such as dances and
tea parties, grew in popularity. Europeanfoods, especially tea, sugar and bread,
became necessary staples for the 'proper'life. Welfare classes did not help matters.
3
The Forster Report; LMS, Moore papers, Box 1, R. .J. B. Moore, 'The Bantu Speak in a British
Protectorate'(mimeo), 106-7, 109-10.
35 Ibid., 103.
36 TheForsterReport;CharlesPerrings,Black Mineworkersin CentralAfrica (New York, 1979), 219.
37 R. J. B. Moore, 'Native Wages & Standardof Living in NorthernRhodesia', African Studies 1, 2
(June 1942), 145-7.
38 Spearpoint, 'African Native', 39.
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44
Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies
While they taught budgeting skills, they also raised expectations even better-paid
minerscould not fulfill. In 1940, a UMCB missionarytestified that 'the women of a
high educationalstandardwant better housing and places to keep their food away
from the flies. They wantproperrooms so thattheirchildrencan sleep at home, and
where the girls can be separatedfrom the boys. There is a very strong feeling about
that.' According to her, failure to reach these goals helped fuel the 1940 strike.3
Genderstrugglesover the distributionof wage packetsmademattersworse. Some
men handedmost of theirpay over to their wives, but no establishedpatternexisted.
Women usually received an allowance for food (posho), but couples frequently
fought over money for clothing and luxury goods. As Scrivener noted in 1937, 'In
mattersof dress both sexes tend to copy the Europeanand with similar results, i.e.
the women complainthey have nothingto wear andthe men grumblethatthe women
spend all their money, which is probablytrue'.40
Women developed numerousstrategiesto maximise materialrewardsfrom their
husbands.They continuedto benefit from demographicpatterns- in 1939 the ratio
of men to women was 2: 1 on the Copperbelt.Easy sociabilityin the compoundsgave
women more leverage in the competitionfor partners.41 Stingy husbandscould be
taken to court or tribal elders for a lecture on family responsibilities, or, also
common, exchangedfor a more generouspartner.UMCB missionariesreportedthat
when a husbandrefused to pay his wife on payday, she often went on to another
man.42
The struggleto obtainmaterialgoods thus dominatedthe lives of Africanmen and
women on the Copperbelt, a struggle made worse by ready comparisons with
neighbouringwhite miners' cars, large houses and ostentatiousleisure-time pursuits. Conflict between the sexes sometimes reachedferocious levels, with many of
the local women 'willing to go to any length to obtain clothes or money'. 43 It is
interesting, however, that during the strike, gender conflict seems to have taken a
back seat to the larger struggle with capital. This patternrepeats itself later in the
colonial period, and suggests that althoughgender and class struggles exist side by
side, their relevance for action may vary in differentcontexts.
CorporateResponses
The 1940 strike commission recommendeda numberof improvements, including
more welfare work for women. Managementreluctantlyagreedto a small wage hike
Forster Commission evidence, Monty Graham-Harrison,UMCB missionary, 557; M. GrahamHarrison, interview, London, 25 October 1976.
40 A. 11-(R), Scrivener, CompoundReport, January1937.
4' ZA/SEC/NAT/66G, Labour DepartmentAnnual Report, Chingola Station, 1939, The beerhalls
were good places to meet potential partners. Miners wanted Spearpoint to prevent women from
frequentingthe beer halls 'as their children were being neglected, and their homes in danger of being
broken up'. Spearpoint, 'African Natives', 32.
42 Agnes Fraser (UMCB) had a female assistantwho did not like her husband'because he refused to
buy clothes for her and her fatherhad to do it'. MMS, Mll. 1, Agnes Fraser, UMCB, Luanshyato B. D.
Gibson, London, 5 December 1938; CBM Box 1211, Revs. R. J. B. Moore and J. R. Shaw, 'Reportof
an Enquiryinto Marriageand TemporaryUnions on the Copperbelt', GeneralMissionaryConferenceof
NorthernRhodesia, 1939.
R. J. B. Moore, Man 's Act and God's in Africa (London, 1940), 39.
4
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The Household and the Mine Shaft
45
and minimal improvementsin rations and housing for marriedworkers, making it
clear they only fed dependantsto avoid malnourishedworkers." The companiesalso
stepped up welfare work for women and children hoping that 'if it results in the
greatercontentmentof the family it no doubthas some effect on the work value of the
employee'. Classes continuedalong the same lines, but with more generous grants.
Managementsprucedup the compoundsa little and encouraged 'beneficial' activities for women such as flower gardening.45
The companies decided to guard against future unrest by stepping up efforts to
controlminersandtheirdependants.They adoptedRoan's system of tribalrepresentation, which established elected tribal representatives(TRs) in each compound.
Miners were ordered to take all but purely industrialproblems to the TRs. Thus
mattersregardingwomen and children automaticallydevolved onto the TRs, who
triedto inflict traditionalrules andvalues on compoundinhabitants.This association
with managementgraduallyunderminedthe TRs' credibility, and in 1953 they were
voted out of the compounds, leaving the Urban Native Courts and compound
case-workersto handle maritalcases.46
Despite continuing leniency towards single women visitors, the companies
increasedefforts to control women residing in the compounds.In 1944, acceding to
governmentand chiefly pressure, they began asking African employees to produce
marriagecertificatesfrom ruralauthoritiesbefore grantingthem marriedaccommodation. Some compound managersrefused to let a man register anotherwife until
three months after a divorce. Managementhoped these regulationswould discourage temporaryalliances, and consequent urbanisation,thus complementingtheir
policy of stabilisationwithout urbanisation.47
The companiesset up the NorthernRhodesiaChamberof Mines (NRCM) in order
to coordinate labour policies, and put inordinateeffort into containing the newly
established(1940) LabourDepartment'senthusiasmfor Africancollective representation. For the next nine years the companiessimply triedto maintainthe statusquo.
They conceded a few benefits to the more skilled boss boys, and later clerks, but
rejectedboss boy demandsfor general worker representation.48
Both companies remained committed to married labour, believing married
workers were less apt to embark on collective labour protest. As the compound
managerat Mufuliraput it,
A marriedmanis a morevaluableassetpurelyon accountof his fearof losinghisjob, dueto
4
The Forster Report; Copper IndustryServices Bureau (CISB) file 100:20:7A: Reply to Forster
Commission by Mufuliraand Roan, 4 January1941.
45 ZA/SEC/LAB/139, LabourCommissionerto Chief Secretary, 4 August 1941; Roan even offered
small cash prizes each monthto the women with the cleanest houses in the compounds. RCM file 203.5
no. 1, Assistant CM to GM, 29 October 1941.
46 RCM/KMA 17, H. H. Field, CM to GM, Roan, 1 September1942; RCM/KMA 5, TR meetings, 4
Octoberand 3 May 1943; ZA/Acc. 72/13, Meeting of the Native Courtsof the Copperbelt,Mufulira, 12
May 1939.
47 ZA/SEC/LAB/57, NRCM to PC, Ndola, 12 July 1944; RCM/KMA 17, NRCM, Memo on Native
Labour Policy, September 1944. In 1953, Urban Native Courts were permitted to issue marriage
licences, which facilitatedthe migrationof women to towns where they could marrywhom they pleased.
48 RCM/KHB 14, The JohannesburgConference, 1946; RCM/KMA 18, NRCM, 55th Executive
Committee Meeting, 17 December 1947.
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46
Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies
the fact thathe has a wife and family. For this reason he is a more tractabletype of labourer,
and endeavoursto improve his position . . . The marriedman is only more efficient because
he is a more docile employee. 4
Thus maintaining a high percentage of married workers continued to be a pillar of
corporate labour strategy. As with previous strategies, the companies failed to
contain collective labour action and in 1949, they had to accept the establishment of
an African Mineworkers' Trade Union (AMWU), and the beginning of organised
collective bargaining. The role of women in this development has been ignored.
Most researchers have, like management, assumed that if women had any influence,
it was conservative. The evidence suggests otherwise.
Womenand the establishmentof the AMWU
Despite scanty evidence, we know that many women went to the early trade union
meetings and listened intently to the new leaders, especially their promise of higher
wages and better living conditions. Women soon recognised the union's potential
and by the early 1950s joined men in ranking trade union leaders as the most
important people on the Copperbelt. 50
Promises of better compound conditions no doubt attracted women because they
had borne the brunt of corporate efforts to reduce necessary labour costs after 1940.
During the war years, construction projects slowed and promised improvements had
failed to materialise. Married housing bulged at the seams. Despite slight improvements, rations remained inadequate. Most married workers still had to supplement
corporate rations.5' As we have seen, European dress, food and recreation had
become the model in the compounds, and welfare classes intensified the desire for
better living standards. After the war both men and women had grown impatient
waiting for their expected post-war rewards, 52 and African discontent grew increasingly vocal. In 1947 Roan boss boys reflected community opinion when they told
management that 'the Europeans need money for food, clothes, education and
business, fare, pleasure and the like and therefore the African needs these as well, if
he or she is to live the real life and life indeed'.53
The high cost of marriage affected support for unionisation in two ways. First,
women were often frustrated by their inability to control their husbands' income.
Many complained they did not even know what that income was. Tension over
household resources was increased by corporate provision of family housing and
food, which encouraged miners to view wages as their own. Money thus became a
major bone of contention between miners and their wives, and women continually
sought ways to enlarge their share. A wage increase, while not directly controlled by
49
RCM/KMA 20, H. H. Field to GM, Mufulira, 29 June 1943.
50 MatthewMwendapole, early trade union leader, interview, Ndola, 3 August 1976; J. C. Mitchell
and A. L. Epstein, 'Occupational Prestige and Social Status among Urban Africans in Northern
Rhodesia', Africa, XXIX (1959), 22-40.
5 ZA/Acc. 52/17, Meeting between labourdepartmentand NRCM, Kitwe, 21 July 1943; A. 11-(R),
CompoundReport, Nkana, January1941 and 1949; The SafferyReport, 39.
52 Alfred Mwalwanda,early union leader, interview, Luanshya, 13 September 1976.
" RCM/KMA 18, Roan Boss Boys' Committee, 28 November 1947.
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The Household and the Mine Shaft
47
women, at least held the possibility of more family income, so the union's promiseto
increase wages and improve living conditionsattractedwomen, and no doubtmany
beleaguered husbands.54 Second, as we have seen, in 1943 most marriedminers
could barely supporttheirwives andchildren.By the end of the war, the real value of
mine wages had fallen dramaticallywith post-war inflation. Rising expectations
clashed with diminishing resources and it is no surprise that many early union
supporterswere married. The predominanceof marriedmembers continued after
independence.In 1968, 64.9 per cent of marriedminersbelonged to the union while
only 26.4 per cent of the unmarriedjoined. 55 The pressuresand costs of marriedlife
thus appearto have been a significant factor pushing miners towards unionisation.
Womenand the Union
Once the AMWU was established, women and women's issues continuedto affect
both union demands and the nature of collective action on the Copperbelt. Issues
affecting life in the compounds, and therefore the daily reproductionof labour,
remainedparamount,as union leaders recognisedthe need to win the confidence of
the mining community. The union struggled to become an arbiter in compound
affairs. Union leaders encouraged miners and their wives to bring complaints to
them ratherthan either tribal representativesor compound officials. 56 Compound
inhabitantsresponded positively, and branch offices were soon swamped with
people's personal and compound problems. The number of women in the compounds increased as well. The union's initial wage settlement 'made African
workers[feel] saferthanthey did before'. As a result, minersencouragedtheirwives
to join them and the mine compoundswere soon flooded with wives expecting the
union to solve their problems.5"
When the companies tried to challenge union dominance in the compounds by
increasingthe power andprestige of the tribalrepresentatives,womenjoined men in
condemningthe TRs and supportedthe union's vote to eliminate them. After this,
union officials became even more importantin compoundaffairs.58
Women also played an importantpartin the first majorstrike in 1952. The union
demanded an across the board wage hike of 2s. 8d. per shift, arguing that this
increase was necessary to provide 'above-the-bread-lineincome, the freely spendable cash [that] made all the difference between human dignity, degradationand
"Hortense Powdermaker,Copper Town(New York, 1962), 191-3. This frustrationwent both ways.
Compound managers reported increased assaults on women, usually the result of exasperation with
women's 'misused independence'. ZA/SEC/NAT/66G, LabourDepartment,Annual Report, Chingola,
1939.
5 The Saffery Report, 10-13. In the early 1950s, longer service miners tended both to be union
members and married. J. C. Mitchell, Data from Nchanga Mine Staff Records, 30 April 1951; A. L.
Epstein, Politics in an Urban African Community(Manchester, 1958), 114-5; Robert Bates, 'Trade
Union Membershipin the Copperminesof Zambia:A Test of Some Hypotheses', EconomicDevelopment
and CulturalChange, 21 (1972-73), 284-5.
56 Shimshon Zelniker, 'Changing Patterns of Trade Unionism: The Zambian Case, 1948-1964'
(Ph.D., UCLA, 1971), 166; CISB 100:60:1, Rheinallt-Jones,'The Welfareof AfricanWorkers', 9 April
to 28 May 1951.
5 RCM/KMA 9, Meeting of the Works Committee, 9 November 1948.
5
Mwendapole, interview cited; Epstein, Politics, 99-100.
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48
Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies
humiliation'.5 The strike organiserscalled on men, women and children to cooperate in the strike effort. The response was dramatic.For 21 days, 30,000 miners
and their families remainedquietly in the compound. As one observer recorded,
As you drovepastthe rowsof hutswherethe strikerslivedtherewas hardlya sign of life.
Not eventhechildren,whonormallywouldbe playingin theyardsandalongthe roadsides,
were to be seen ... It was incrediblethat30,000 peopleshouldhave been so muchin
evidencethe daybeforeandthattwelvehourslaterthereshouldbe only a desertedtown.60
Since strikersreceived neitherwages nor food, food became an essential issue, and
both women's gardening skills and their ability to stretch limited food supplies
underpinnedthe strike's success. Women had heeded union warnings, stocking up
on food and enlarginggardens for two monthsbefore the strike. During the strike,
men and women spentlong hours in the garden. Everyone attendedstrikemeetings.
The strike was a communityeffort, and women were essential to its success. It only
ended when the union had forced management into arbitrationand ordered the
strikers back to work. 61
New CorporatePolicy
The vote against the TRs, the cohesion of the 1952 strike and the arbitrators'
generous wage increasetook the companiesby surprise, and forced them to rethink
their labour policies. The days of cheap malleable black labour were over. Meanwhile, the new Federal leaders were promising racial partnershipto win over
African opinion, and for the first time, the government openly supportedlimited
African settlement in the,urban areas.62 The companies took this opportunityto
adopt a new labour strategy, one that both saved money and pacified ambitious
African miners. Federal pressure, high copper prices, and the end of wartime
controls over copper freed the companies to break the Europeanunion's stranglehold over more skilled Schedule A jobs. As a result, the companies were able to
advance 'less expensive' African miners into some low-level supervisorypositions.
Managementencouraged, and later forced, these miners out of the African union
and into the Mines African Salaried Staff Association (MASA), which lacked a
strike clause. In this way they hoped to remove the most articulateunion leaders
while creatinga black working-classelite dependenton managementfor its position
and therefore hopefully loyal to the companies and the Federation.
Policies for women changed accordingly. As the companies became more committed to African proletarianisation,services assisting family adjustmentin the
mine compoundsincreased dramatically.Since TRs were no longer available, the
5 M. Mwendapole,A Historyof the Trade UnionMovementin Zambiaup to 1968, edited and with an
introductionby Robin Palmer and Ian Phimister (Lusaka, 1977), 15.
60 F. M. N. Heath, 'No Smoke from the Smelter', Corona (April, 1953), 149.
61 Africansbarely used the food tickets which the governmentintroducedto enable miners to buy food
throughthe companies' feeding system. Epstein, Politics, 96; CentralAfrican Post, 29 October 1952.
62
The Federationof Northernand SouthernRhodesiaand Nyasalandoccurredin 1953 and lasteduntil
1964.
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The Household and the Mine Shaft
49
companies hired social welfare case workers to deal with maritaldisputes.63 In an
effort to encourage 'proper' working-class wives, the compound staff condemned
prostitutionand adultery, while emphasising the importanceof marital stability,
fidelity, and frugality.In the late 1950s, Roanestablisheda Citizens' Advice Bureau
to handle problems, particularlydomestic quarrels. Entirely run by Africans, the
Bureau reported spectacularresults in the reduction of divorce cases. Out of 525
cases handledin the first six months, 472 couples reconciled.64
The companiestook over and expandedwomen's welfare work. More than ever,
classes aimed to adapt miners' wives to long-term urban residence. Women were
taught 'to spend household money carefully, to provide a good, but cheap meal, to
make dresses and shirts that last, and to wash and iron and mend clothes'.65
Reflecting a concern for generational as well as daily labour reproduction, the
companies set up similar classes for girls over twelve, as well as industrialtraining
institutesfor miners' sons. Companynewspapersextolled the virtues of loyalty and
frugality. Luntandanya,for example, ran a popular serial about a delinquentwho
had madegood throughhardwork andobedienceto his superiors.His attractivewife
advised women to be cheerful and 'to look after their houses and family
properly. . . . Then he [the husband]does not think of divorce.' 66 Through such
publicity, management hoped to persuade miners' wives to ensure a healthy,
contentedand peaceful African workforce.
MASA wives received special attentionto encourageloyalty and to preparethem
for their rising status. The Roan welfare supervisorcontemplated'a course especially designed for these women so that they will be able to keep apace to a small
degree with their husbandsand more especially to introduceher to some form of
budgetingand careful spending'.67 The companiesencouragedthe continuedadoption of Europeanliving standardsandbehaviour,both so these women could happily
occupy formerlyEuropeanlow-density housing, and so they would provide a model
for ordinaryminers' wives. Indeed, some became case workers in the mine African
Personnel Departments.68
Womenand CollectiveAction in the 1950s
The mining companies clearly hoped their policies would turn miners' wives into
loyal working-classwives, devoted to increasinglabourproductivitywhile making
minimaldemands.Managementbelieved such settled wives would reduceindustrial
63 D.4-(R), T. W. Jones, welfare supervisor, to N. Conway, social welfare officer, 27 January1954;
Dick Howie, interview, Johannesburg,10 October 1976; RCM file 203.5, no. 1, E. Bromwichto GM,
RACM, African Welfare, 23 November 1953.
64 Roan Antelope (RA)-M. 10, Citizen's Advice Bureau, 11 April 1962; Peter Harries-Jones,'Marital
Disputes and the Process of Conciliation in the CopperbeltTown', Rhodes LivingstoneJournal, xxxv
(1964).
65 Nchanga Drum, 9 February 1962; Luntandanya(Nkana), 28 February 1959.
66
Luntandanya,25 April 1959.
67 RCM file 203.5, no. 2, D. Howie, RACM, to departmentof welfare and probationservices, April
1956.
68 Fanny Musumbulwa,case worker, Roan Antelope, interview, Luanshya, 1 September1976; Sheila
Morris, wife of UMCB missionary, and Theresa Katongo, case worker, Roan Antelope, interview,
Luanshya;3 September 1976; Dick Howie, interview cited.
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50
Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies
unrestbecause it threatenedfamily security. The companies apparentlyignored the
possibility that miners' wives might support, or even increase, the possibility of
collective labour action or political protest.
The companies underestimatedwomen once again. Women and women's issues
continuedto influence union demandsandto facilitatecollective action. Throughout
the 1950s, the union remainedconcernedaboutthe daily reproductionof labour, and
demandedbettercompoundconditions, especially bigger houses with electricityand
plumbing. When the companies tried to circumvent the union by establishing
township advisory boards in the mid-1950s, the union refused to cooperate. Members and their wives supportedthis action.69
Miners' wives continuedto supportthe union. Women as well as men 'regarded
the union as an institutionintimately related to their general welfare', and many
women attendedtrade union meetings.70 Most women recognised the union's vital
role in wresting benefits from management.In 1954, for example, some women at
Roan loudly accused the assistant compound manager, Chris Cook, of shortchangingtheir mealie-meal. The women refusedto be appeasedby Cook's remarks,
claiming, 'No, no this is not good, thatis why our husbandswent on strike, because
you and your fellow Europeansare very bad.' Cook summoned an African trade
union leader, Jameson Chapoloko, who failed to mollify them either - his first
failure to address the people. He admitted, of course, that women are harder to
convince than men, and advised Cook to leave. He would try to solve the problem
throughtheir husbands.71
Women, as food producers, union supporters, and neighbourhoodorganisers,
continuedto play a crucial role in collective labour action. Hortense Powdermaker
describes a small strike at Roan in 1954 proving this point. As in 1952, the
companies stopped rations during the strike, so people relied on gardens which
were, of course, primarilyplantedand harvestedby women. In fact, the 1954 strike
organisers deliberatelyplanned the strike for a time of abundantfood production.
Women and men cooperatedto maintaincalm in the compounds;'the township was
far more peaceful during the strike than ordinarily'. When Katilunguspoke to the
strikers, he praised everyone, including women, for their unity and admonished
them to remain calm, refuse to work, and to cultivate their gardens. Women thus
provided food, neighbourhood support systems and organisational help during
strikes, a patternthat was to continue throughoutthe 1950s. 72
When the companies tried to divide the black workforce by creating the staff
association, quite a numberof potentialstaff wives pushedtheir husbandsback into
the union. One MASA member who returnedto the union claimed that the staff
association did nothing for him, but
anotherthingthatis badis thatall people hateyou as soon as they hearyou are a member,even
69
Roan, compoundrecords, NRCM-AMWUmeeting, 5 December 1955; Howie, interviewcited. The
Roan mine townshiphad 146 electrifiedhouses in the Africancompoundin 1954. By 1961, 4,720 houses
(out of 7,708) were electrified. Powdermaker,Copper Town, 5.
70 Powdermaker,Copper Town, 116; Epstein, Politics, 112.
7' Private papers of Dr A. L. Epstein (Epstein Papers), interview with W. Munthali, Ngoni clerk,
U/G, 1 April 1954.
72 Powdermaker,Copper Town, 116, 124-40; Mwendapole, Trade Union Movement,31.
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The Household and the Mine Shaft
51
women. My wife used to quarrelwith me for not attendingunion public meetings. She forced
me to attendbecause all her friends were laughingat her, and saying thather husbandwas an
informer.7
Another staff member was discovered trying to sneak to work in disguise. After
destroying his work clothes with an axe, his irate wife hauled the embarrassed
husbandbefore local union officials.
Union wives supportedthe long, bitter strikes against MASA in 1955 and 1956.
They ridiculed staff members and their families, tormentingthem with hate songs
saying that 'the staff makobo[tastelessfish or informers]are finished and the union
is all powerful'. They taughttheir childrento do the same. 75 The union encouraged
staff wives to ensure their husbands'loyalty to the union. 'This effective control of
husbandsby their wives was carefully manipulatedby the NRAMWU throughout
the strike.' During the January1955 strike, 'thousandsof miners and their families
formed processions in the streets, carrying branches of trees, waving cloths and
singing, . . .and converged at a public meeting where their leaders addressed
them'. 76 When the Chamber of Mines threatenedto sack miners who refused to
returnto work, miners and their families at Roan and Nchanga 'kept up an all-night
vigil, singing, dancing and shouting slogans urging their fellows to ignore the
Chamberof Mines' ultimatum'. 77 Women also avoidedthe staff-runwelfare centres
in order to protest against MASA. 78
Women supportedthe 1956 strike in a similar manner. Tension ran high, and
some women were caught up in the sporadicviolence eruptingin the compounds.
One union member and his wife assaulteda MASA miner on his way home from
work. The wife was sentencedto 3 monthssimple imprisonmentfor hittingthe boss
boy twice on the head with a rock."9 Similar outburstshappenedat other mines as
well.
In September1956, a declarationof emergencyand the subsequentbanishmentof
radicalunionleadersbroughtthe unionto its knees andendedthe strike. Supervisory
workerswere forced into the staff association, althoughsome who qualifiedfor staff
status, including two women, accepted a discharge ratherthan give in.80
Throughoutthese strikesthereis little evidence to supportmanagement'svision of
women as peacemakers. With the withdrawal of rations after the declaration of
emergency, a labourofficer claimed that some wives pushedtheir husbandsback to
work in order to buy food for their children. But he admittedthat only 'a trickle'
returned.81 Most miners' wives supportedthe strikes, andput aside genderconflict in
favour of a united front against capital.
Epstein papers, interviews with staff association members, 27 February 1954.
Mwendapole, Trade Union Movement,28.
7 RCM 203.21, no. 2, Sectional APM to Acting APM, Nkana, 17 August 1956.
76 Mwendapole, Trade Union Movement,21, 28.
7
CentralAfrican Post, 28 January1955.
78 CISB 100:60:1, no. 2, African Welfare, 1955; RCM file 203.5, no. 2, NRCM, African Labour
Boycotts, 30 August 1956.
7 NorthernNews (Ndola), 16 August 1956.
80 Reportof the CommissionAppointedto Inquireinto the Unrest in the Mining Industryin Northern
Rhodesia in recent months (Lusaka, 1956), 23. (The Branigan Report)
81 CentralAfrican Post, 17 September 1956.
74
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52
Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies
The QuiescentPeriod
For the next six years, a decimatedleadershipconcentratedon rebuildingthe union.
Under governmentand corporatepressure, union leaders agreed to pause on wage
demands, to avoid strikes, and to stay out of nationalist politics. Compound
conditionsbecame one of the few issues capableof mobilising members.As a result,
union-managementmeetings after 1957 are full of demandsfor compoundimprovementsandargumentswith mine townshipadvisorycommittees. The strategyworked
and union membershipslowly revived. Althoughmembersrejoiced when the union
reinstatedvigorous wage demandsin 1962, miners and their wives appreciatedthe
union's efforts to improve compoundconditions duringthis difficult period.82
The staff associationmanifesteda similarpreoccupationwith its members'living
standards.The hostilitybetween staff anddaily paid minersspilled over into the lives
of the staff wives and their families. As one wife recalled, 'Even if you were just
buying some food you were called bamakobo [informer] . . . sometimes you can get
stoned. It made the staff people keep to themselves.' 83
Staff association members consoled themselves by pressing for special concessions in exchange for their loyalty. Once again, the reproductionof labourbecame a
key issue, as the staff association demanded superior living standards in the
compounds. Wifely aspirationsplayed a central role in these demands, as white
collar workers often spent more money on their wives' clothes than on their own.
Staff wives also wanted better education for their children, material for welfare
classes, nicely decorated houses and a chance to enjoy leisure time aspirations
encouragedby special welfare classes for their status group.84
During this period of relative industrialpeace, the mining companies seemingly
achievedtheirgoal: the establishmentof a settledfamily-orientedAfricanworkforce
willing to exchange strike action and even political involvement for economic
security. Were miners' wives part of this strategy? Had they finally become the
conservative force so long anticipatedby management?
Certainlywomen in the mine compoundshad an interestin maintainingindustrial
peace as most women relied on their husbands'wages for support.Although many
wives supplementedthe family income, few could match mining salaries.85 At the
same time, expectations aroused by welfare classes and comparisons with staff
miners increased conflicts over household resources. While some wives had considerable say in family budgeting, even to controlling alternate monthly wage
82 RCM file 202.5, no. 8, NRCM, telegram to Salisbury about NRCM-AMWU meeting, 15 March
1957; APM, confidential reports, 1 March 1957; John Chisata, former presidentAMWU, interview,
Mufulira, 14 September 1976.
83 F. Musumbulwa,interview cited.
84 Ibid.; The First Reporton UrbanAfrican Budget Surveys (Lusaka, 1960), 7, 20.
85 As the union won higher wages, women's informal marketactivities could not compete with union
wages. A few women securedwaged employment,but only a few and only after the mid-1950s. Mufulira
AfricanStar, February1962; Luntandanya,6 May 1961. By the early 1960s, parentswere beginningto
recognise the need to educate girls so they could 'take care of themselves in case of divorce'. Nchanga
Drum, 27 July 1962.
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The Household and the Mine Shaft
53
packets, many wives received pitiful hand-outs.86 Domestic quarrelsover money
marredcompoundlife. Men complainedthat 'women [on the Copperbelt]are after
money as men are after jobs'.87 But women saw the other side. As some young
women at the Nchanga Mine Welfare Centre agreed in 1958, 'money spoils the
relationshipbetween husband and wife. The men never give us enough of their
wages. They take away the money they earn and spend it on beer. '88
Managementalso increasinglyintervenedin miners' domestic affairs. Compound
officials offered women marital counselling and special courses in household
management.As sex ratios evened out,89 mining communitiesbecame more attractive, and 'respectable'marriagesthe ideal, many women preferredto improvetheir
position within marriage rather than get a divorce. Miners' wives increasingly
turnedto compoundcase-workersfor help. These case-workersspent much of their
time sortingout family budgetingproblems, even using threatsof dismissal to bring
stingy husbands into line.90 Corporate newspapers propagated the myth of the
successful family man, who benefited from a devoted wife's frugality and managerial approval.91 The companiesthusprovedwilling to protectwomen andfamilies,
but the message was clear - benefits would come throughcooperationratherthan
conflict.
But willingness to accept managerialassistance in household gender struggles
does not prove thatwomen in the mine compoundsopposed collective labouraction.
The behaviourof miners and their wives in this periodhas to be evaluatedwithinthe
larger constraints of the Northern Rhodesian political economy. Several factors
inhibited labour protest after the State of Emergency. The s-pecialisedand often
non-transferablenatureof mining skills increasedvulnerabilityto dismissal. Mining
families enjoyed one of the highest Africanliving standardsin NorthernRhodesia, a
benefit few were willing to give up. At the same time, a weakened union was less
able to protect workers, particularlyin illegal strikes or political activities. Several
well-publicised dismissals drove this point home. Union leaders also realised they
had lost governmentsupport,makingcollective action all the more dangerous.The
African mining community recognised these limitations and acted accordingly.92
While gender struggles may have fuelled worker grievances, neither miners nor
their wives dared challenge managementduring the late 1950s.
However, we cannot assume that miners and their wives had abandonedtheir
commitmentto collective labouraction. Whennationalistpolitics alteredthe balance
86 Fifty women interviewedabouttheir husbands'bonuses indicatedthey would have considerablesay
about how it was spent. Nchanga Drum, 24 August 1962; Luntandanya,2 January 1960 and 20 June
1959.
Luntandanya,2 January1960.
DorotheaLehmann,UMCB missionaryand scholar, Reportof a discussion with the Young Wives'
Club at Nchanga Mine Welfare Centre for Women, 10 March 1958.
89 1963 Copperbeltsex ratios were 130 men per 100 wornen. Among adolescents, there were more
girls than boys. Helmut Heisler, Urbanisationand the Governmentof Migration (London, 1974), 137.
90 Boniface Koloko, personneldepartment,RACM, interview, Luanshya,30 August 1976; D. Howie,
interview cited.
91 For example, The Nchanga Drum featured an ideal family every week. It highlighted the man's
successful career, while describingthe woman as a devoted mother and wife.
92 For more detail, see Jane L. Parpart,Labor and Capital on the African Copperbelt(Philadelphia,
1983), chapter7.
87
88
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54
Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies
of power in the early 1960s, industrialdisputes flared up again. With full support
from wives and members, staff association and union leadersjoined forces in 1961
and demandeda wage scale that linked and narrowedthe gap between African and
Europeanwages and living standards.Althoughthe staff associationwas boughtoff
with a 10 per cent wage hike, the union persisted, only calling off the strike under
pressure from African nationalistleaders.93 In 1966, the two organisations(now
called the Mines Local Staff Association (MLSA) and the ZambianMineworkers'
Union (ZMU)) joined forces again to protest against the dual wage structure
established at independence. But this time the miners ratherthan union and staff
officials led the strike. The strike had strong grass-roots support, especially from
wives. Conditions of reproductivelabour were central issues, and union and staff
demandsto the commissionof inquiryreflectedthese concerns. The MLSA cited the
expatriate's 'better house, better leave, more sick pay and educationalallowances
for his children'as an unnecessarydifferenceand 'reason [for the Africanworker]to
thinkhe is being exploited'. The ZMU complainedbitterlyof inadequatehousing for
families, the rental burden, and compound officials' patronising attitudes - all
problems intimatelylinked with daily life in the compound.94 Thus women's issues
andconcernsinfluencedlabourprotestand women for the most partseem once again
to have put aside gender conflicts in order to triumphover capital.
Womenand Politics
During the politically quiescent years after 1957, women in the mine compounds
also displayed a remarkablecommitment to political action. While most miners
supported the new nationalist party, the United National Independence Party
(UNIP), fear of corporatedispleasureinhibitedtheir political activity. In contrast,
women (andyouths) in the mine compoundstook up the nationalistchallenge and by
the early 1960s the Women's League overshadowedcorporatewelfare programmes
for women. Women and girls found a new sense of pride andpurposein the League,
and used it to fight for improvementsin the compoundsas well as political rights.
The League even threatened to usurp union prerogatives in the compounds by
boycottingbutcheriesandbeerhalls, forcingcompoundshops to displayUNIP signs,
and insisting that African personnel managersdiscuss improvementsdirectly with
them. 95
In 1963, the Women's League helped UNIP boycott beerhalls, chargingthatbeer
drinking led women to neglect children and household duties, and encouraged
9 Chisata, interview cited; Reportof the Commissionappointedto Inquireinto the MiningIndustryin
NorthernRhodesia (Lusaka, 1962). (The Morison Report)
9 Report of the Commissionof Inquiry into the Mining Industry (Lusaka, 1966), 60-1, 64-5. (The
Brown Report); Timesof Zambia, 1-8 April 1966.
95 A survey of twelve-to sixteen-yearold girls at Nchanga reportedthatnon-school goers resentedtheir
bad fortune, longed for furthereducation, but appeared'to gain considerablestatus when they joined a
politicalgroupandare assignedto special duty', Evidenceto the Commissionof Inquiryinto Unreston the
Copperbelt,July-August1963 (Lusaka, 1963), Reporton Nchanga, Roan and RhokanaWelfare Centres
(The WhelanCommission);A. 11-(R), Report on townships and welfare, April 1960 and January1963;
The NorthernNews, 1 June 1963.
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The Household and the Mine Shaft
55
prostitution.96 League women, both in mine and governmenttownships, were not
therefore challenging women's traditional roles and in that sense never moved
beyond union demands,but they broadenedthe scope of their discontentby fighting
for better living conditions in the urban areas and by tying their demands to the
dissolution of colonial rule. In that way they proved more radical than their
husbands,who refrainedfrom large-scale involvement with the nationaliststruggle
until the last year or two before independence.Laterthe miners were to prove more
radicalthantheir wives as they began to criticise UNIP and the emergingbureaucratic ruling class.
Conclusion
The Copperbeltcase thus contradictsthe assumptionthatworkers' wives necessarily
oppose collective action when it threatens their immediate interests, especially
family security.98 While conflicting interests, especially over family budgets, often
divided miners and their wives, for the most parthouseholdgender strugglesdo not
seem to have taken precedence over class struggle on the Copperbelt. Although
individual women no doubt opposed occasional strikes, most women in the mine
compounds supportedminers' struggles with capital. Quiescent periods are better
explained by political and economic constraintsratherthan female conservatism.
When opportunities for collective action reemerged, women supported worker
activism. Thus, the Copperbeltcase suggests that while workers' wives may have
interestsdivergentfrom and conflicting with male wage earners', they can also have
an interest in successful class struggle, as that opens the gate to increased family
resources.
In fact, ratherthangender strugglescreatinga conservativewomen's presence in
the Copperbeltcompounds,they seem to have exacerbatedtensions with capitaland
the propensityfor collective labouraction. Genderconflicts increasedpressureson
wages and heightened labour's grievances against capital. Indeed, from the first
strike, the copper miners couched many of their demandsin terms of family needs
and expectations. This suggests that conflicts over family resources fuelled both
feelings of exploitation and a willingness to confront capital. These demandsalso
enlisted women's supportfor collective labouraction, which, as we have seen, was
crucial for its success. Thus, gender conflict emerges not as an impediment to
labour's struggles with capital, but as a pressure-pointencouragingdissatisfaction
with capital, as a source of worker demands, and as a confrontationthat could be
temporarilysuspendedduring class struggles.
We need to know more about the various factors affecting decisions whether to
suspend gender struggles for class struggles, particularlythe impact of differing
degrees of dependence on male earnings, the level of community involvement in
96 Peter Harries-Jones,Freedom and Labour (Oxford, 1975), 133-5; Ilsa Schuster, 'Constraintsand
Opportunitiesin Political Participation:The Case of ZambianWomen', Geneve-Afrique,21, 2 (1983),
8-2 1.
97 Michael Burawoy, 'Another Look at the Mineworker', African Social Research, 14 (1972).
9 Michele Barrett, Women'sOppression Today (London, 1980), 162-72, 212.
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56
Journal of SouthernAfrican Studies
class struggle, and the possibilities for success. We cannotassume, as JaneHumphries does, that the working-class family is a naturalunit of opposition to capital.99
Rather, the Copperbeltcase emphasises the need to examine both gender and class
struggles, and consequentlyreproductiveand productivelabour, in order to understandwomen's role in labour-capitalrelations. For, as the Copperbeltcase proves,
workers' wives can both define and extend labour's struggles with capital; and
consequentlywarrantmore attentionin future research.
9 Jane Humphries, 'The Working Class Family, Women's Liberation, Class Struggle: The Case of
NineteenthCenturyBritishHistory', TheReviewof Radical Political Economics(RRPE),9 (Fall, 1977),
25-42. For an excellent synthesisof Humphriesand an opposingopinion (Heidi Hartmann),see Gita Sen,
'The Sexual Division of Laborand the WorkingClass Family: Towardsa ConceptualSynthesisof Class
Relations and the Subordinationof Women', RRPE, 12, 2 (Summer 1980).
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