In what ways did World War 1 change the employment opportunities for women in Britain?

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In what ways did World War 1 change the employment opportunities for women in Britain?

World War One was to give  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 /Suffragists and women had no political power. 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 lenience in following politics as a career.

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).

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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; 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.

Nursing was an extremely popular employment opportunity for women. During the war there were two types of nursing; VAD’s (Voluntary Aid Detachment) and FANY’s (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry). VAD's came from a variety of backgrounds - cooks, domestic servants, laundry workers ...

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