Elaine Mormon took fight for title of 'free miner' to Commons after application was rejected on gender grounds

She drops her teenage daughter off at school before donning her miner's helmet, grabbing her pickaxe and heading off for a shift 100 metres underground.

After a two-year legal wrangle that reached the House of Commons, Elaine Mormon's right to work beneath the ground – and hold the age-old title of "free miner" – has finally been recognised.

Mormon laboured for years underground before deciding to apply to become a free miner of the Forest of Dean, a title bestowed on 4,500 men since a law was passed to protect local iron and coal reserves in 1838. To register as a free miner a "man" has to be 21, to have been born and live locally and to have worked for a year and a day in a mine.

Mormon matched the criteria – except she is not a man. "I was born here, I've worked for years in the mine and I'm over 21 – the only problem is that I'm not a man," she said. But she reckoned the world had changed since the rules were set in the Dean Forest (Mines) Act 1838 and applied to become a free miner.

The "deputy gaveller", the Forestry Commission official responsible, replied: "The principal obstacle to your application is that of gender. As you are aware, only male persons are permitted to be registered and extensive research indicates that there are no grounds for allowing variations to this registration requirement."

Forest of Dean MP Mark Harper investigated the case, raised it in parliament and Mormon has now been told she can become a free miner.

She said: "I felt a bit cheated when they refused my application and I wasn't going to take it lying down.

"I have proved myself in a man's world so I feel I am entitled to be recognised for doing a difficult and dangerous job."

Mormon, a single mother, mines ochre – an iron oxide used for artists' paints and in the cosmetics industry. She was first taken down the mine at Clearwell, Gloucestershire, by her father when she was a girl. She said: "My family have mined ochre here for years so when I had the chance to work in the family business I took it.

"It's not for everyone. Sometimes I have to squeeze through narrow tunnels and it can be hot and uncomfortable. But I love it down there. I often mine on my own; it is peaceful and I lose track of time."

She was delighted when the Forestry Commission reversed its decision. "When they phoned me up to tell me I'd finally been accepted I was ecstatic," she said. "I've been mining for so long and now I have a title which befits the job."