Women and the war effort in Britain, 1914-1918.

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Coursework Assignment: Women and the war effort in Britain, 1914-1918

1.

    The two sources, D and G, show many differences. Source D is written by a man many years later than the period we are talking about. This is not first hand evidence. He may have gathered his information from accounts written at the time but he could have changed it to suit the angle from which he is writing. Also, he was a historian writing a broad outline about historical events and so was not specialist on women’s rights which meant his work on this topic would be brief and maybe even superficial. I feel that as Pope was writing about the war a long time after it had happened that he would be able to tell a much more truthful story, provided he had reliable sources, as the government would not restrict the content of his book. Source G however is taken directly from a magazine written in 1915 and so is first hand evidence. It therefore may be seen as more reliable than source D. Also the content of this magazine would have been closely monitored and the author would only be allowed to talk about certain subjects which were specified by the government as this information would be published in a magazine which would be read by much of the British population.

    Source D explains how the attitudes of men towards women workers were usually hostile and unwelcoming. We can understand why as in the passage it tells us that this made men more “vulnerable to conscription” and so many men who did not want to leave their families and go and fight took this stance. Source G tells us how the position of women in the workplace has changed and how these modern women were now being accepted. It says that women are just like men and can do the jobs once held by men in times of crisis. Here source G is trying not to show the attitudes of some men towards women but saying that they are comrades and so hoping to show the rest of the nation that men should not be hostile towards women.

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   In source D we are told that women became victims of hostility and sabotage and that they were restricted to less skilled work. Source G contradicts this and says that men and women were friends. If this was so then males would not try to sabotage women’s work and act in an unwelcoming manner towards the female employees. I think source G tried to keep the public calm and so by printing this article they writer could attempt to show that everything in the factories was still running smoothly and try to keep morale high. If they had told ...

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