The pride and self-esteem of male coal miners wasn't on offer to the women in their communities, particularly those who were married. Rogovin had made photographs of female miners in Appalachia in the 1970s; at the time of making his Scottish portraits there were no female miners working in Scotland’s collieries. His contact sheets do show that he photographed some of the Scottish miners’ wives who began to work in factories from the 1970s. However, these jobs didn't have the prestige, or the wages, offered in heavy industry.