The history of the Ruhr region is a grin. The teeth gleam white in a face blackened by coal and dirt. This is how the men come out of the pit after their shift. They haul up the coal. Every day they fight against the forces and dangers of the mountain. This is how they characterise the Ruhr area and make the region what it is. They look after their families with their own hands and put food on the table. And on Sundays they are at the football match, either as spectators or players.
What has little place in this narrative of the Ruhr are the women. Their part in getting the children through is at least as big. But they have to find their own ways to do this. On the one hand, it scratches men's sense of honour when their wives go out to work. The neighbours must then think that as a man they are not able to support their family. But there are also various reasons why people at the collieries are against working underground.
But often the income from mining is not enough. There are not many job opportunities for the women. Those who are lucky can "take up a position" and help out in the household of a middle-class family. But the number of doctors, teachers and colliery directors is also limited.
So earning money is by no means always an option. But work is not only a source of income, it can also save money. The men's wages are often not enough to put food on the table. The women grow vegetables behind the house or on a free piece of land. And they keep animals. At home, they mend every pair of trousers, a thousand times if necessary. The main thing is that they last a few more months, maybe years.
They often rent out the family beds during the day to boarders: single young men who can't afford their own flat. The miners' wives cook for them and wash their clothes, while the young men lie in bed and sleep during the day.
