Abstract:
"Coal mining brings to the surface new masculinities and gender roles in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The rising employment of men in the mining industry creates new possibilities and constraints for men and women alike. For miners, work in the pit is a marker of a positively connoted masculinity connected not only to physical strength but more importantly to technical know-how, being educated and earning a high salary. Wives of miners are increasingly economically dependent on their husband and the nuclear family model is reinforced. However, wives retain their traditional control over family finances and extend their activities in agriculture, while miners’ long absences from the village open up opportunities for women to assume new roles in the public realm. Generally, spouses in Dayak mining families tend to flexibly negotiate newly emerging gender roles and duties, thereby challenging all too rigid gender norms linked to the nuclear family model promoted by the state."