Introduction:

World War One was to give women the opportunity to show a male-dominated society that they could do more than simply bring up children and tend a home. In World War One, women played a vital role in keeping soldiers equipped with ammunition and in many senses they kept the nation moving through their help in manning the transport system.

With so many young men volunteering to join the army, and with so many casualties in Europe, a gap was created in employment and women were called on to fill these gaps. World War One was to prove a turning point for women. At the start in August 1914, those in political power had been left angered by the activities of the Suffragettes and women had no political power whatsoever. By the end of the war, in November 1918, women had proved that they were just as important to the war effort as men had been and in 1918 women were given some form of political representation.

During World War One, 8.9 million young men had been mobilised in Great Britain and her Empire. Of these, 908,000 were killed and 2 million wounded. 36% of those mobilised were casualties of the war.

Women found employment in transport (the rail lines and driving buses and trams), nursing, factories making ammunition, the Women's Royal Air Force where they worked on planes as mechanics, on farms in the Women's Land Army, in shipyards etc. Before 1914, these jobs had been for men only (with the exception of nursing).

In December 1917, the "London Gazette" surveyed 444,000 women. 68% of them had changed jobs since the war began in 1914. 16% had moved out of domestic service (servants); 22% were unemployed in 1914 and now had work; 23% had moved form one factory job to another factory - such movement had been very rare for women before 1914.

The "Woman Worker" magazine interviewed women in February 1919, just three months after the end of the war, and 65% of those interviewed stated that they would never go back to domestic service regardless of their situation. Only 5% stated that they would go back to domestic work but on their terms - £40 a year, 2.5 days a week off and clothes to wear on duty to be chosen by themselves (unless the mistress/master paid for them). Before 1914, domestic servants had to pay for their uniform out of their own money and many resented this.

Nursing:

Young women volunteered to join the VAD's (Voluntary Aid Detachment) and FANY's (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry)

Recruitment poster for VAD's "urgently needed"

VAD's came from a variety of backgrounds - cooks, domestic servants, laundry workers etc. Their medical training was basic but the fact that they went to the war zone meant that they could comfort badly injured soldiers and give them basic medical treatment even if they were originally not allowed to give injections.

A volunteer to the VAD's found that her family did not welcome her involvement in nursing. "Whatever you do, you are not going to nurse; you can go (to the war) as a pantry-maid, but not as a nurse." The volunteer explained her mother's anxiety on the fact that she did not want her daughter dealing with the "lower classes - Tommies".

Regardless of parental opposition, the lady (Mrs. Warren) did join the VAD's. She dealt mostly with gunshot wounds and gas victims. Her main job was to keep wounds clean which meant constantly draining a man's wounds. She also found out that wounded soldiers would put dirty coins into the bandages and onto the wound if they felt that they were going to be returned to the frontline after they left hospital.

The only forms of painkiller the VAD's had were aspirin and morphine which, in morphine's case, they had in tablet form. The tablet had to be mixed with water and then sucked into a needle before the VAD had to find a suitable place near the wound to inject it.

VAD's did not get paid as it was a voluntary appointment. Those that organised them, Sisters and Matrons, did. Because of this non-payment, VAD's usually came from a certain social background where not being paid was not a problem.

Those who joined the FANY's had a less glamorous time. Antonia Gamwell remembers that as a FANY she had to drive an ambulance (in fact, a car belonging to her family), scrub out and disinfect rooms which housed wounded soldiers and on occasions was asked to get rid of bodies from the hospital she worked at. FANY's also ran soup kitchens for the soldiers and helped to organise baths for those soldiers given some time off from the front line.

The Women's Land Army:

With so many men away fighting, someone had to bring in the harvests and keep the farms going. As an island we had to feed ourselves as German submarines were sinking  merchant ships bringing food from America to Britain. Therefore we had to become self-sufficient in food. The Women's Land Army played a vital part in this especially after 1916 when the Battle of the Somme killed and wounded so many young British soldiers - men who would normally work on the land.

Those women who joined the WLA were given a uniform : brown corduroy trousers, green jerseys and leggings, a WLA hat and hob nail boots. They were also issued with a 'Mac' in case it rained. One of the comments made by women in the WLA (but not  a complaint) was that their feet were never dry even in dry weather - simply because they had to work early in the morning and the dew on the grass would enter the boots through the lace holes.

They were paid 18 shillings a week (near enough £1 now) but 12 shillings went in board and food. That left 6 shillings at a time when a pair of stockings cost 3 shillings. Therefore, those on farms found that they usually did not have enough money for any form of entertainment - but work during the day could be exhausting, so sleep was seen as a luxury.

To save fuel for the precious war effort, every that could be done by hand was done by hand. The use of tractors was very rare. Seeds were planted by hand, harvesting was done by hand etc. Horses were used for ploughing the land - just as in Medieval times !!

There was such a need for young ladies to join the WLA, that recruiting offices were none too keen to thoroughly check on someone's age. Patricia Vernon, who joined the WLA aged 14, told the recruiting office that she was 18 and was immediately accepted.

Factory Workers:

Some of the most important done by women was in the ammunition factories. With the young men away fighting, this vital work was done by women. It was very dangerous.  Working with explosive chemicals meant that one explosion in a factory could trigger off many other ones. Also the protective clothing of today did not really exist then. The munition girls worked with sulphur. There was no protection from this dangerous chemical and the women who worked with sulphur found that their exposed skin turned yellow as the chemical impregnated itself into any exposed skin. Therefore, your face and hands could take on a yellow tinge. These women were given the nick-name "canaries" - though it was not a term of abuse, more a nick-name of endearment as people recognised the massive importance of their job. Ironically when the war ended in November 1918, and the soldiers returned from Europe, these ladies were dismissed from their job and replaced by those men who had been serving soldiers. The evidence suggests that this did not cause resentment among the women as the soldiers had fought for their country. 

But all the work done by women during the war was to lead to something the Suffragettes had wanted but failed to get. In 1918, women over the age of 30 were given the right to vote and in 1928, this was changed so that all women had equal political rights with men.

For Women 1900-1945 Index - click here

Revised December 2002

ctrueman@wsgfl.org.uk