Despite inroads made by women into the mining industry, most mining workers are still male and the majority of partners are female.

And while the concept of remote mining is changing, with fly-in fly-out becoming more common, a remote mining town can still be a place where men work long days and women stay home with the kids.

A 2007 review by Sanjay Sharma and Susan Rees, who were working out of universities in Queensland, detailed higher domestic violence and divorce rates among mining communities.

The review also looked at how women in mining towns can be marginalised to domestic chores, and willing to work but without job opportunities.

The report states: “An analysis of the mental health and wellbeing of female partners of mine workers needs to consider work schedules of mining employment and the socio-cultural settings of these towns that largely confine women to the household and the male-dominated community periphery”

Linda Rhodes has a long history of living in mining towns, and she agreed more work is needed on the social impact of mining on miners as well as their families.

Her life as a mining wife started in 1972 in Kalgoorlie, and she has moved about 20 times since then thanks to her husband’s work in the industry.

This has included stints living in remote Western Australia, New South Wales, Mexico and America.

“What’s happening with the wives? Really, nobody knows,” Rhodes said.

“There are anecdotal stories but it does need a study to find out what’s going on.”

Rhodes is also the author of Two for the Price of One: The Lives of Mining Wives.

She said when she was living in mining towns, there was domestic abuse but nothing was ever done about it.

The mining companies would not interfere, there were no police to offer assistance and it was “pushed under the carpet”

There were also women in mining towns who were frustrated because they could not get a decent job and they were expected to stay home full-time with their children.

However, Rhodes said the FIFO lifestyle had created new opportunities for mining wives.

Women can now choose to live in a mining town or stay in a larger centre even though their partner was often absent.

While this is a good thing for many women and their own careers, Rhodes said part of the modern dilemma with FIFO was that the companies take no responsibility for a miner’s family.

“That simply is to deny the reality of mining,” Rhodes said.

She said FIFO operations could also intrude on family life because of the long hours and stints away.

Rhodes also said she was astonished at how many depressed mining wives she had come across, and many of these were older women.

“I think when you’re young and have lots of energy you can do it,” she said.

Mining towns could be great places for people with young children when there were lots of other young couples around, she added.

But with mining towns falling by the wayside in favour of FIFO, that community could be a thing of the past.

Melva Stone is another woman who has spent much of her life in remote mining towns. She was the first permanent female resident in Newman and lived in the Pilbara for more than 20 years after growing up in Marble Bar.

She acknowledges life as a woman in a mining town was difficult but said it was a fabulous learning opportunity and offered many challenges.

Stone now lives in Perth and consults to the Miners Hall of Fame in Kalgoorlie.

She was part of the management team for the book Red Dust in Her Veins, which was launched in Karratha in November last year and is now in its second print run.

The book details the experiences of 12 women who live, or have lived, in northern WA.

Stone said despite the difficulties, she loved the Pilbara, which was a dynamic and ever-changing environment and provided friendships that lasted a lifetime.

She added the women who made the life a success were the ones with a positive attitude – others took one look and left.

However, Stone believed nowadays young women in the city would not want to desert their career to live in remote places – but she thought FIFO was not good from a social point of view for these remote towns.

But she also said other young women who had taken their children to the Pilbara often said they would not live anywhere else.

Those women also needed to rely on each other more than they would in the city.

While there was no doubt that depression was an issue for men and women, isolation was the biggest issue to grapple with, Stone added.

But people could enjoy the challenge presented by the remoteness of some mining towns and the lifestyle offered in the remote places.

Stone has also set up a website for women living in mining areas which allows women to share their stories and experiences of life in remote areas: www.womenofthepilbara.com.au