Did They Have Women for That?

A storytelling evening with Kiruna's first female drill operator.

IngMari Lundmark - the first woman to complete mining training at LKAB and the first to work at the front of Kiruna mine - shares the stage with her daughter Anneli Lundmark to tell the story of the women who came before them in the mine and the resistance they faced. In Sweden, women were banned from working underground in 1900, and it took nearly 80 years before that law was repealed.

When the ban was finally lifted, IngMari Lundmark spent eight years alone at a drill rig several hundred metres below ground, lifting two tonnes of drill steel per shift. During the evening, they recount the history of the mine women, explain why the ban was introduced, and discuss the long struggle - particularly in northern and western Bothnia - to reopen the mines to everyone.

Who were the opponents? Who were the advocates? And what was it like to be the first woman in a completely male-dominated world?

Organised by Malå Theatre Association in collaboration with ABF Mitt i Lappland.