Women miners on the job at Huaibei mine

A female coal miner is seen at the Huaibei mine, East China's Anhui province, March 24, 2016. [Photo/IC]

Coal mining is usually a man's world, as women miners are rarely seen in China. However, there is a team of women miners working at the Huaibei Mine Factory in East China's Anhui province. Standing beside conveyer belts, by hand they separate coal from worthless gangue. Each day at the Huaibei mine, nearly 100 carts of coal are processed in this way. It's a hard and dirty job and the pay is not high, but the women work hard to make a contribution to society.

Yin Weimin, China's minister of Human Resources and Social Security, said earlier that China expects to lay off 1.3 million workers in the coal industry and 500,000 million workers in the steel sector, as part of efforts to reduce industrial overcapacity.