Women of Steel: Constructing and Contesting New Gendered Geographies of Work in the Australian Steel Industry

The article argues that although structuralist‐inspired approaches to steel restructuring have provided significant insights and recognised the role of “labour” in sectoral change, such studies have predominantly equated labour politics with unionism, downplaying the impact of other forms of workers’ politics. This has created a problematic disjunction between “real world” events and academic research, with ensuing issues for policy development and delivery. In response to this difficulty, the paper builds on Herod’s concept of a labour geography to develop multiple labour geographies of power, an approach that describes different forms of workers’ politics. To illustrate this approach, the paper presents female steelworkers’ politics of restructuring. It details the Jobs for Women Campaign in Wollongong, Australia, a 1980s place‐based initiative that sought to gain blue‐collar employment for women in the local steelworks. The study demonstrates how female steelworkers developed restructuring politics addressing gender and employment discrimination, issues not normally associated with labour politics. The paper concludes that such workers’ struggles need to be analysed as they affect restructuring impacts and processes.