GCSE History The Home Front 1914-1918 C/W
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Introduction
1. What can you learn from Source A about women's work during the First World War? This source is written in 1976 by a woman who lived through the First World War. Before the war broke out, she was earning as little as �2 a month in domestic services and she "hated every minute of it". The long, gruelling hours and the typical frustration of her work made this woman desperate of a new job. So when war eventually started she took the chance to "get out" of her current job and become a war-worker. War-workers were generally women who took up "man" jobs due to the short supply of men. As you can see this woman, like many others, were very keen to leave their jobs and work in the war. This woman considered herself "very well off" as she earned �5 a week. This wage is substantially better than her wage she had before and the hours were shorter. The source's reliability however, is not as good as it could be. The account was written in 1976, some 30 years after the war had ended. This could end in a lack of accuracy, and the source would therefore be invalid. This leads me to conclude that the wars effect on women was better then probably first thought. The source is not very reliable but it gives us a rough idea of how the women percept world war two. They had better pay and hours were less however they had the horrible thought of what was happening the their husbands, fighting against the enemies. ...read more.
Middle
shows the importance of them 4. Use Source G, and your own knowledge, 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 woman's experiences while working during the First World War; it was written in 1919. When the First World War broke out, and extra workers were needed to supply ammunition and other war materials, women found themselves with a perfect opportunity. A perfect opportunity to get work and earn as much money as a man would per hour. Before the war, women found it very difficult to find work due to the fact that men took up most of the jobs as they were thought to be more reliable and stronger. This was the scenario in the First World War, when women were needed in the industry; to make ammunition and other was supplies. Men thought that they women would be incapable and too weak to lift and carry all the heavy objects that they had to. This stereotype of women - not being able to cope with the hard working conditions of the industrial jobs was obvious throughout England. Women were expected to work in the domestic services and to help and tend to their husband back at home. However, things changed during the war as women actually had other useful skills that they could use to help in the war effort, not to mention the women who were in fact stronger than some of the men. Maybe some of the men were just jealous of the women, who got these jobs with ease and with no interview. ...read more.
Conclusion
On a board at the back it says, "When the boys come back we are not going to keep you any longer - girls". This is why I believe that the male workers thought that the women were just cover for the men fighting in the war, and that after the war, the women would be back at home as a housewife again. Sources A, B and C all talk about the actual conditions the women had to endure whilst working in the factories. Sources A and C talk positively about the women, which therefore might suggest that they were being treated well as they were so valuable. However, B talks about how women were discriminated against by the people who paid them, "It was common they told me for six or more of the thirty dope painters to be lying ill on the stones outside the workshop". In conclusion, I near enough agree with the statement, 'Without the work of women on the Home Front, Britain could have not won the First World War'. I think that the women were helpful in the fact that they worked in the Land Army, and worked in the manufacturing industry etc but it wasn't them who won the war. If the men thought that the women were thought of as crucial then why did they have to endure harsh conations? Why were they treated unfairly? This backs the idea that they were not vital although I still agree that they were in fact important but not decisive. It was the courage and power of the men on the front line who finally defeated the Central Powers and it is them who should get all the credit. ...read more.
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