In 1914 most women did not work but the war was to change this. When war began in 1914, 1.2 million women went to work for the first time. Women made up 31 per cent of the new workers brought into work in industry. 840,000 women found jobs in commerce and the local government for example. Approximately 700, 000 women played an important role in the chemical, metal and munitions industries during the war. This information clearly shows that this was an increased opportunity during the war, but in the years to come, was not maintained. In 1916 after the passing of the Military Service Acts in Britain the need for women workers increased as men were now conscripted to work in the army.
To begin with, war did not make much difference to the employment of women because of the attitude of the Government. Women wanted to play a more active role in the war effort. One such group led by Dr Elsie Inglis volunteered to go to France and work as nurses. They were refused by the War Office but went anyway. Herbert Asquith ‘business as usual’ policy meant many offers of help were refused to begin with. Women doctors working overseas were not paid or graded as officers. The number of women doctors was small and their work was part of a larger movement in which women were becoming accepted in universities and professions, which had begun many years before the war.
The event that brought women into the war effort in large numbers was the Great Shell Shortage of 1915. Many women left domestic service to take up places in munitions factories of the men who fought abroad. The work in munitions factories was very dangerous and unpleasant. Therefore the wages were relatively high; women earned approximately £3 a week, more then many women would earn as domestic servants in a month. This was one of the most important areas where women were needed was in munitions factories, and during the war about 900,000 women worked on munitions. They made bullets and shells, assembled detonators, polished time fuses and filled the shells with gunpowder. Munitions work was one of the best-paid jobs for women. Their weekly wage ranged between 30s and £5. If you compare this to the average weekly wage of 11s 7d paid to women industrial workers before the war, munitions work must have seemed very attractive. This information here again, shows that there was a greatly increased opportunity for women to get jobs during the war.
From spring 1917, there were many jobs in the armed services women were able to do. 100 000 women served in the various sections of the armed services. They also took over the clerical and administrative work normally done by men. Women were also in demand for the 'caring' side of employment. 23 000 women served as nurses close to the fighting and a further 15 000 volunteered to serve as drivers and clerks.
For many upper class women, dealing with the sick, the dying and the dead came face to face with a side of life they had never experienced before. Their work was hard and very unpleasant. Although munitions work was dangerous and unhealthy, it was, by women's standards well paid. A female industrial worker could expect £3 to £5 a week, which was a huge sum compared to their measly £2 a month paid to a domestic servant before the war. As you can see, this is undoubtedly something that was very good for women and it helped to change society’s attitudes towards women.
The WAAC (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps) was set up because all the men fighting in the 'Great War' needed food, tanks, guns and machinery fixing, and the accounts to add up. This is another reason why women were needed during the war and not before. For clerical workers the ratios were 4 women to 3 men. Most women were expected to cook and once the war started some found they cooking for over 700 soldiers.
Women were needed as nurses so the first VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) unit was set up in 1914. They worked in converted workhouses, hospitals and tents/huts much nearer the front line for immediate treatment. In the years running up to the war only a small number of people became sick, injured or hurt but during the war men are being severely wounded and need instant treatment that will save their lives. Women are wanted to work in the first aid to treat these men and make sure they have as much of a full recovery as possible.
Middle class women did not work in the industries during the war but began to enter the professions. Many women began to take up teaching posts work in banks. Some entered the legal professions. In 1917 the British government appointed the first women diplomat Women however were still paid lower wages then men however they were earning more money in areas out of traditional women’s jobs.
Despite the new opportunities the employment of women was not popular in some quarters. One of many complaints against women workers was that they were afraid that employment of unskilled women would lead to lower wages, as women would be doing the same work as skilled men. Male workers showed their disapproval by refusing to work with women. They also played practical jokes on them and gave confusing instructions. In 1915 after a series of strikes against women workers and the government was forced to sign agreements with unions which stated that women would not be able to keep their jobs after the war.
The attitude of many women had changed as a result of war and few wished to return to domestic service. The Cabinet raised this problem. The committee suggested that some important changes should take place to make domestic service a more attractive occupation; reduced hours, fixed mealtimes, days off, paid holidays, better food and introduction of mechanical appliances to help servants with time consuming tasks. The government ignored this report and women with a simple decision. They could return to domestic service or lead a life of poverty. The end of the war therefore saw a rise in women’s employment. Within three years the number of women working as domestic servants had increased to 1,845,000. In 1911 there were 1.6 million domestic servants. After the war this remained the most popular job amongst women followed by textiles/clothing. However, men continued to dominate the other industries and professions.
Eighteen months after the war ended 600,000 women had left their jobs accepting that they had been filling in for men at the front. However half of the ‘new’ women workers taken on during the war still had their jobs as late as April1920. The economic slump of 1920-1921 however led to a wide spread clear out of these women workers. The economic slump was the result of debts. Britain owed USA £850 million at the end of the war and had lent Russia £1750 million, which was never repaid. In 1921 the percentage of the female population with a job was 31 per cent one per cent less then in 1911. Only in commercial occupations did women get to keep the jobs they had during the war. This information clearly shows that despite an increased opportunity for women during the war, they soon disappeared after the war ended.
After the war it was acceptable for a woman to take a job that a man might want. In 1919 the Sex Disqualification Act (removal) was passed so that women could become barristers, vets, police officers and high civil servants. If a woman had lost their job they were given £1.25 a week until they were employed once more (a 'jobseeker's allowance'). Some women went back to domestic service because they weren't educated enough to continue their jobs but sin 1920 universities agreed to giving women degrees. Census' show that after the war there were 7 times as many women employed in some fields of work such as architecture, soliciting, medicine and engineering. Not only were working class women moving into higher jobs. In 1918 the first woman took a seat as an MP in parliament (Lady Astor) and the first female Cabinet Minister was appointed (Margaret Bondfield).
The war also led to major changes in social attitudes for women. Women now had more freedom and their clothing became simpler and less restrictive. Make-up became acceptable. Better advice about contraception meant women could have fewer children. Young women no longer had to be chaperoned to dances/the cinema with their boyfriends and new educational opportunities arose. The illegitimacy rate rose by 30 per cent. There were three times as many divorces in 1920 as in 1910.
The Suffragettes were a group of women campaigning for the ‘right to vote’ since 1903. By 1918 at the end of the war there were few politicians who were prepared to argue against women’s suffrage. The efforts of women on the Home Front had changed many minds. Women were finally allowed to vote as a result of war. However there were conditions they had to be over the age of 30 and had to be householders or married to a householder. Parliament did not want women voters to outnumber male voters.
In conclusion the war did not change employment opportunities for women. By the 1930s however women were doing the same work as they had done before the war. Women’s wages were only half those of men even if they were doing the same work. Only a minority of working women belonged to trade unions and so did not fight for better pay and working conditions. Many trade unions continued to oppose greater employment opportunities for women, as they were a threat to men’s jobs and wages. More women had entered domestic service after the war and it continued to be the most popular job amongst women with 245,000 more women employed as domestic servants after the war. Only in commerce did women get to keep their jobs. The most long lasting change came about for middle class women and numerous careers were opened to them after the war. However there was only a 2 percent increase in those working in these higher professions. The Sex Disqualification Act also helped to open professions to women. The war had failed to significantly change employment opportunities for women. However the war did change social opportunities for women and many gained the right to vote. Few women would return to their old attitudes and now, wore make-up, smoked, as well as using bad language in public. This was the one change, which could not be stopped by the government or the opposite sex. Changes in employment opportunities for women had begun before the war and would continue after the war for some years before any major change in employment opportunities for women would take place. The views that women were only good for marriage and raising children had been destroyed as a result of war but there was still a long way to go before the employment opportunities of women would change significantly.