Did The First World War Liberate British Women?

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History Coursework                                                                 Amy Thomas

Did The First World War Liberate British Women?

In this assignment, I have been asked whether the First World War liberated British women.  To obtain a definite answer to this question I intend to study the roles that women were viewed to have and analyse how these roles changed over time.  I also need to find what impact other peoples attitudes had on the course of liberation for women, and will do so by studying a wide array of information from a selection of primary and secondary sources.  I will need to study these sources carefully and in the process investigate their utility and reliability.  My main areas of study for this assignment are; the movements of the Women’s Social and Political Union (also know as the suffragette’s) and whether they were the cause of the liberation, attitudes of women throughout history, (I.E. The typical male point of view) and the importance the war effort held as a major cause of Women’s Liberation.  This will aid me in answering the aforesaid question.

To begin with, I will look at the women’s lives prior to the First World War and how they were and how they were bound to the home.  Along with the industrial revolution and the abolition of child labour in 1819, women were increasingly restricted to the home.  In source A1 Ann Oakley, in her book “Housewife” suggests just that.  She says that in pre-industrial Britain women’s involvement in the agricultural and textiles industry was essential, as the family unit was Britain’s “basic unit of production.”  Women were the equal counterparts of men, as they played and equal part in the survival of the family. Women worked alongside the men spinning and dyeing yarn for money, and also on the Farm, making butter and cheese.  Ann writes about how women were gradually withdrawn from the work place and forced to stay at home.  Women at this time were excluded from trade unions and contracts were drawn preventing male employers hiring women.  Coupled with the restriction of childcare this made work almost impossible for women.  Source A1 also shows how people viewed the restriction of women and how figureheads such as Queen Victoria encouraged it.  According to source A1, Queen Victoria said, “Let a woman be what god intended, a helpmate for a man, but with totally different duties and vocations.”  This could have had a huge effect on the moral of women at this time.  Some, particularly from working class families would have felt trapped and miserable.  The statement by the Queen would have crossed them, as she had no idea of how restrictive their life was.  They would have had no way out of their hardship, and being regarded as the underdogs of men did them no justice what so ever. From this Source I can ascertain that men viewed women as a threat, because they could easily take over the roles of men.  

This source is not particularly reliable from a historian’s point of view as it may be biased as Ann, as a woman and a housewife may have written the piece and over exaggerated in order to be sympathetic.  However if she had done her job properly as a historian the account should be balanced, but I am not sure to whether or not she is even a historian.  It is also discredited as it is a secondary source, although that does not mean it cannot be reliable.  Even though the source may or may not be reliable it is extremely useful, as it contains a lot of information on the subject, which helps you come to your own conclusions.  

Source A2 supports the views of A1 and adds that women were not as intelligent and skilful as men. It highlights that “A woman’s place was in the home, caring for her family”, which reinforces what Ann Oakley said.  This source is useful because of it’s content, however it lacks reliability as it is not attributed.  Some of the facts in the source like that of the census are interesting and add to the thoughts of women being increasingly restricted to the home.  Source A3 also supports the views of sources A1 and A2.  It is an advert, which shows a woman being solely admired for her cooking skills, not for any other personal quality.  This source is very useful as it shows how prior to the First World War the stereotypical woman was viewed by the men of the time.  It also shows how limited women’s lives were, as they were expected to fulfil the same duties repeatedly and were seen only as a means of fulfilling them not for who they were.  Source A3 could be very reliable very reliable, as it is a primary source, but as it is a cartoon it would probably have been exaggerated which may discredit the source slightly.  However, I think the utility of the source outweighs this as it is extremely useful in showing the attitudes people had of women from the time.    Another important point picked up in the sources is the impact of the class system.  Source A2 says that “Better off women were not expected to work, but many working class women did work…until (they) got married.”  This is a small insight into what life was like for working class women as it shows they had to work to provide for themselves, but once married could not work and had to live off their husbands so that they could perform their marital duties.  The jobs they were allowed to do were similar to the “Job they would have as a wife.”  

At the turn of the 20th century, there was a huge difference between the lifestyles of Working class and Upper class women. Source A4 suggests that Middle class women at the time lived a hard life, serving others and performing such tasks as cleaning whole houses daily, hauling heavy objects up flights of stairs and serving food, all for little money. They worked in dreadful conditions and in constant fear of losing their jobs.  The Source contrasts such women with the “fragile and delicate” upper class woman.  I think that this source is very informative about the lives of women before world war one and would be considered reliable as it was taken from a history textbook for which much research and a balanced view would be needed to make it an accurate book to work from.  Source A5 is useful too as it shows that there was much snobbery where this type of work was involved.  I know from my own knowledge that there were times when an employer would change a person’s name to one more fitting of a servant.  I have even heard of incidents when whole households of servants were given the same name so that it was easier on the employer to remember.  I think that source A5 shows the lack of respect people had for working class women at this time and the lack of value they had in them.  From a historians point of view and my own, I think that source A5 is a very useful and reliable source because it is written and attributed by someone who was alive at the time and who has experienced the hardship that she is writing about.  Source A8 echoes the points made in source A4 and shows the difference between the day of a maid and her mistress. The maid’s day begins very early and is very difficult.  Whereas the mistress awakens at a later time and has a day filled with entertaining and pleasant things to do. Middle-class women in the nineteenth century were groomed so that they could show off the wealth of their husband’s However you may question the reliability of the source as it is not attributed and its origin is unknown. From the remainder of the sources in section A, I can see that more and more women at this time were being subjected to a life similar to the maid’s. This was because they were being forced to seek work as there was a decrease in women marrying, as a result of the increasing female population. They were in dire need of work because they did not have a husband to provide for them, and therefore were not financially reliable.  

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From the sources available in section A, as well as my own knowledge, I can see that prior to the War women, especially working class were treated poorly. They were also restricted to their homes with little job prospects available to them. Men treated them in a manner that was unpleasant and extremely derogatory.  I think that people had little respect for women and they had virtually no rights, the little that they did have only came with wealth.  Women did nothing to fight against this injustice at the time and suffered without a way of escape, bound to ...

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