Source B is a section of a book written by Sylvia Pankhurst in 1932, it speaks about the disastrous effects of women working on the home front, and in this case the women are working in the London aircraft works. She tells of women's stories working on painting the planes, the woman worked from 8.00 am to 5.30 pm (expected sometimes 8pm), but the most daunting point out of this book is most probably out of the thirty women workers six or more would be lying ill on the stones outside the workshop before being able to return to their turmoil. The reason being for this book was produced was to show the anguish woman had to endure because of the toxins that the dope varnish was letting off even though the woman were working overtime they still were getting paid considerably a low amount of money. The work they had to do painting the aircrafts must’ve caused health problems as breathing in dope varnish is equivalent in nail varnish in addition they were doing this for long periods of time everyday this is evident the varnish took its toil as in the source it states ‘six or more of the thirty dope painters were lying outside on the stones for half an hour or three quarters’.
Source B contradicts Source C because of the conditions of the aircraft works for example they didn’t probably have much freedom or social life because they got up at 8 am and finished at 8pm plus they would’ve been sick from all the inhalation of dope varnish, also their children might not have gotten much benefit from the money since they earned 15 shilling = 95 pence.
On the other hand Sylvia Pankhurst who was in the WSPU (women’s social and political union) opposed the war so the book might have had contents which had only disadvantages of women working in war as Pankhurst was a pacifist which didn’t agree with the purpose of war there by in her book showed the disadvantages it brought to women consequently there would probably be a decrease in women helping out in the war once women starting reading her book, thus proving that this source could be biased also it was only taken out from a small section of the book and would only show the disadvantages.
The weaknesses of Sources A+ B is that they don’t talk about what disadvantages or advantages in the home and social life came from working in a factory plus the sources mostly concentrate on time worked, wages and condition. However Source C doesn’t give different views of woman and factory life it could’ve helped if the employer did more thorough research into what he was observing which was only personal.
How useful are sources D and E in helping you to understand the importance of the work of women in industry during the First World War?
Source D is a photograph taken in a munitions factory produced during the First World War. It shows us how woman worked in munitions factory, it was produced to show that woman’s jobs were not seen highly important or the disadvantages of working in munitions factory. It’s also a mockery since the ‘when the boys come back we are not going to keep you any longer – girls’ since it sending the message those women were only there temporarily, thus they’re were being used for the time being. Also they are referred to girls rather than women again sending out the message that they are not being taking seriously thus seen as second class. This source is quite useful in showing how important women were in industry as it illustrates that women were unhappy in working in these industries as they were treated improbably.
However Source D is a photograph therefore only shows one moment in time and does not show variety of jobs women did in industries. The photograph can be misleading as the women could have been positioned there to show the unhappiness it can cause or it could have been a photograph taken by the WSPU to stop women going into industries as helping in industries would be participating in the war.
Source E is a poster created by the British government produced in 1916. The purpose of the poster was to encourage women to work. The poster is an example of the government’s propaganda scheme to get women working in industries hence the slogan ‘learn to make munitions’ this slogan is very direct also it proposes a new skill which women can find useful during and after the war. Also the other slogan ‘doing there bit’ this slogan generates patriotism as it promoting that the women in the poster is working for her country thus setting an example for all women.
However Source E is a poster whipped up by the government to get more women working therefore it is propaganda thus only showing the advantage of working for the country.
Source E is useful in helping us understand the importance of women as it shows the governments need to show how important women were worth in helping Britain succeed in the First World War. While Source D shows the realism of working in munitions as it isn’t all it was made out to be in Source E since the women look glum and worn out. But Source D is untrustworthy as it’s a photograph.
Use Source G to explain why some men opposed the employment of women in industry during the First World War
Source G is part of an account of a woman’s experience while working during the First World War, it was produced in 1919. The purpose of the account is to inform how women were treated in munitions factories by men. It tells us how women’s tools were no were to be found and the hardship they were given by the men. This is due to the jealously that erupted from the men as they were used to seeing women in more traditional jobs such as housewives, domestic services well less paid jobs.
This made them angry as they saw woman getting the same amount of pay plus these women were working harder and producing better quality products. This meant that with the work that women were doing, men were starting to speculate that their jobs might be gone after the war as they would be replaced with these women that did a better job than they did.
As men saw women earn equality they were not used to this there by used mostly every tactic to make the women’s lives harder and more frustrating such as ‘drawer nailed up by men’, ‘oil was poured over everything’ from this it can be seen that men saw themselves as the dominant gender therefore wanted to make this clear to the women.
In addition this harbored from their childhood as men were traditionally brought up to provide for the family and also their environment that they lived in generated the idea of a woman’s position being in the home, as there were not many woman in high status jobs.
With the pioneering of dilution (when lower class women recruited to do skilled jobs) men thought that this technique to bring in more women workers was undermining and lowering the status of their jobs as these woman were adapting even though they didn’t not have the same training as the men.
The social change that was brought on from the change of jobs intimidated men as women were now able to have more freedom mostly because of the money they were earning which meant that they were able to spend more money on themselves. Examples of the socially freedom equipped by women was that they were able to go to the cinema, shopping in town unsupervised by men and went on bicycle trips. The most drastic change was when women drank in pubs and smoked in public.
A fashion revolution took over as women were doing men’s jobs this meant they had to wear suitable clothing for the job this lead to women changing from dresses to trousers and tops. This threatened men as their clothes separated the two genders but with the change women and men were equal which was unusual to the men.
‘Without the work of women on the Home Front, Britain could not have won the First World War’
This statement is partly true due to the fact that without women on the home front, there wouldn’t be a lot of back up for things such as munitions, food or mechanics. In source E the poster that was published in 1916 to encourage women to join munitions factories had had an impact because in Source F it shows in 1914 only 2,178,600 women were employed in manufacturing industry but by 1918 (two years later the poster was published) 2,970,600 were employed, this employment helped with making more munitions.
With women being able to carry much heavier pieces of metal written in Source H this was an advantage as more things could be repaired or made easier and faster that would be of some kind of aid to the home front, this also showed that the idea of women being physically weaker to men was given serious consideration.
Middle class and upper class women helped with nursing the soldiers and volunteered as ambulance drivers in France and Belgium this organization was called the Voluntary Aid Detachment where 74,000 women joined in 1914, and the First Aid Nurses Yeomanry were used as nurses, in source J which was a painting called for ‘king and country’ which was exactly what women were doing as they made the munitions which was vital for defense.
The women’s Land army played a vital role as the country had to become self- sufficient in the production of food because of the danger of importing goods from other countries also the country was slowly departing into starvation. Other than helping with fueling the war, nearing the end the war in 1917 women were allowed to fight for their country, this was through the organizations Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps this was then followed by the Women’s Royal Naval Service and the Women’s Royal Air Force.
In source F it shows that employment in transport had increased by more than 99 hundred.
On the other hand there were many factors that also won the war. The war took place in France which meant that there were less Britons dying. On the home front there were new technological advances such as tanks and airplanes. These technologies were extremely helpful as they were used for air bombs to demolish buildings and kill innocent civilians.
DORA (defense of realm act) was also significant as newspapers could be censored; the government was able to take over factories and some were switched to making munitions this proved useful as more arms could be made and the government knew what was being made in factories furthermore some men could be ordered to stop doing an insignificant job and move to a different factory where their skills could be better used. Some workers e.g. farmers or miners were not allowed to join the army as their skill were too important to waste also a law (munitions act) was brought in which made strikes illegal in vital industries. Extra land was ploughed up for farming as more food could be grown and food rationing was introduced in 1918 which saved money moreover this technique got food to soldiers on the home front. Railways and docks were under military law. Crime was controlled by appointing special constables. Air raid precautions brought in such as windows were blackened to show lights weren’t turned on.
In 1914 Winston Churchill ordered a blockade of German ships heading to German ports this was important as the ships contained food, steel, oil and chemicals which were useful for munitions. the blockade proved to be successful at the last eighteenth months of the war as Denmark and Sweden agreed to limit exports to Germany and in April 1917 ended any trade coming from America to Germany. The effects were that industries ran out of fuel and chemicals for explosives and gas. In 1915 food rationing began, in 1916 in German cities, bread was running out fast this lead to people becoming frustrated this lead to food riots. By 1916 120,000 died of starvation this rose to 290, 000 by 1918. With the increase of starvation people took action by holding strikes and riots to demand an end to the war.
An increase in starvation meant that people were more prone to viruses this lead to a flu epidemic which killed thousands of people. A revolution began as people were turning against the Kaiser as they blamed him for their worsening conditions. On the 9th November, Kaiser Wilhelm abandoned the Reich and fled to Holland. He was replaced by Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the Social Democratic Party.
The fault of the Kaiser could have been when he tried to stop food supplies getting to Britain by using the German U-boats to sink ships in February 1917. This only worked for a while as Britain had at one time only six weeks of certain foods and four days supply of sugar.
This starvation tactic brought America into the war as British Intelligence found out that Germany was making suggestions to Mexico to declare war on America but once British Intelligence found out they reported it to Woodrow Wilson. Wilson took action by declaring war on Germany and selling armament to the allies this lead to vast amounts of loans given to pay for the war.
One of the major mistakes Germany took on was the Shlieffen plan, the German troops were taken to France and from there they could make France surrender by capturing Paris then going onto defeat Belgium and Russia. But this was a bad idea as Belgium wouldn’t let Germany through: this meant they had to fight Belgium.
This brought Britain in as Britain had signed a treaty to Westminster in 1839 promising to protect Belgium. Germany was not prepared for Russia to round up their troops so fast this lead to some of the German soldiers going to the Russian border. This lead to the German army surrounded which meant having to pull back thus failing to capture Paris. If the German’s didn’t take all of their troops to France things would have been different and planned out effectively.
Germany’s allies had surrendered; this happened as Serbian and French troops captured Bulgarian army therefore Bulgaria had to surrender on 29th September, on 30th October Turkey surrendered as British and Arab troops surrounded them, then on 3rd November the Austro-Hungarian Empire surrendered as the Czech and polish gathered their troops against them.
The 11th November the German government forfeited.
To conclude the work of the women on the home front was an important factor which led to women gaining many rights after the war but this did not mean without the help of women they had no chance of winning the war from the above, there are a range of factors combined together which proved to defeat Germany. As the backing down of the Germany’s allies was an important factor which meant Germany had no back up thus it was left on its own to fight against many other countries, which proved that it was unable to do so.
