Upper class women didn’t work before or after the war but stayed at home and looked after the children. Working class women had to work to be able to support their families as well as look after the children and cook and clean as they couldn’t afford housekeepers or domestic help of any kind.
The Women’s land army provided 48,000 jobs and proved women had just as much stamina and skill to cope with tough tasks only thought suitable for men!
Celebrated work by women was in the munitions factories. This involved the manufacturing of shells and weapons but also handling chemicals. Towards the end of the war over 900,000 women were involved with the munitions factories.0
In Spring 1917 there were many jobs in the armed services women were able to do. Over 100,000 women served in various sections of the armed services including; Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC); Women’s Royal Navy Service (WRNS) and the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF). They also took over all the clerical and administrative work normally done by the men to free them up to fight on the front.
Women were in extreme demand from the ‘caring’ side of employment. 23,000 women served as nurses, close to the front, First Aid Nursing Yeomanry. Plus a further 15,000 volunteered as drivers and clerks in Voluntary Aid Detachment.
Many Upper and Middle class women dealt with the sick and wounded, dying and dead. They experienced a side of life they never imagined they would. Their job was very hard and unpleasant!
The attitude towards women before the war was that they didn’t have the same mental and physical strength as men. Men thought women were inferior to them and therefore couldn’t do the job as well as them. As the war went on, men were more willing to let women take over their jobs after an agreement was struck between them and also because the men were fighting their was nobody to provide the shells and food etc!
They still weren’t treated equally as men were paid a substantial more than women for doing exactly the same job but men were more willing to let them take over once they knew they could have their jobs back when the war was over. Also shorter skirts and hair became fashionable, smoking and wearing make-up was allowed in public for the first time and going out with men without needing a chaperone. Laws also changed allowing women to seek for divorce on grounds of adultery; to hold down a job while married in the professions or civil service. They could hold onto or dispose of property on the same terms as their husbands; vote when there 21 and are entitled to pensions just the same as dependant children.
In conclusion the war did make a difference to women’s jobs as it opened many more paths. People could see how good they were at what they were doing during the war and therefore how useful they would be after! Without the war they would never of have chance to prove themselves. There was still a way to go before equality but it had set women on the path towards treatment on an equal level to men in the workplace.
