Mounting casualties on the western front changed women's employment situation. When the men went to war those left behind filled their jobs in the munitions factories. When men died on the front line more men were sent to fight leaving vacancies in the workplace. In 1915 there was a great shortage of shells on the Western Front and this also began to change the situation. Lloyd George, the Minister for Munitions negotiated with the trade unions, and came to a deal and began to draft women into industrial employment and other jobs. The general at the front line told the government they needed more shells to win the war. At first, the government were reluctant to allow women to do the jobs left vacant by the men who had gone to fight..
Conscription made the labour shortages worse because in January 1916 every single man aged 18 to 41 was told to 'sign up' and fight for their country. Then in April of the same year the act was extended to include married men as well. The positions left open were given to women to whom many people objected. The government had to allow women to work in the factories to give them a chance of victory.
People didn't think that women could work in the factories because they were too delicate and would be harmed. The Right to Serve March in 1915 was a protest by women who marched through London to prove that they were strong. Women could help the war effort by working in the factories, as they weren't allowed to fight. After this women were allowed to working the munitions factories. This showed that women were prepared to work, could work and they weren't extremely fragile and unintelligent.
One of the most important areas where women were needed was in munitions factories, and during the war about 900,000 women worked on munitions. They made bullets and shells, assembled detonators, polished time fuses and filled the shells with gunpowder. Munitions work was one of the best-paid jobs for women. Their weekly wage ranged between 30s and £5. If you compare this to the average weekly wage of 11s 7d paid to women industrial workers before the war, munitions work must have seemed very attractive.
The employment of women was not always popular. In 1915 there were strikes against workers and the government was forced to sign agreements with unions that stated that women would not keep their jobs at the end of the war.
Between 1914 and 1918 the number of women in the labour force increased by almost 1.5 million. They started doing many new jobs, some of which had previously been considered unsuitable for them. Women worked in factories, on the land, in offices, and in transport. They became post women, policewomen and nurses, and they cleaned roads, swept chimneys, dug graves, heaved coal and worked in breweries and gasworks. Women worked in the shipyards and drove trams, buses and ambulances. Women built aeroplanes and airships. This type of work reflects the tremendous change in attitude to women as workers.In 1917, women were enlisted to work in services; the WAAC, WRNS, WAD, and the WRAF. The idea, before the war, that women should drive motorcars was remarkable enough, though during the war, women became engineers. 48,000 women worked as labourers on the land in the Women's Land Army. These jobs proved that women had the stamina and the skill to cope with tasks that people had thought only men could do.
Working Women were still expected to look and act in a lady-like fashion. This tells us that attitudes towards women had not changed. They still had to be gentle, prim and proper. When they started to wear trousers, this was a real shock because the boundary between men and women was blurring. This bothered a lot of people because they thought men wouldn't be able to discipline their women. Women had a good wage so they could buy their own clothes and gain more independence. Society thought this was a bad thing and thought all women were buying cheap jewellery and flirting with other men while their husbands were fighting. The picture drawn of a woman working in a munitions factory was tarty, cheap, unrespectable and untrusting. The numbers of illegitimate babies grew proving the public right. Men did not approve of women working so they would try and get the woman to make mistakes and damage their work on purpose.
The employment of women however was not popular. In 1915 there were strikes against women workers and the government signed agreements with unions stating that many women would lose their jobs when the war ended. Afraid that the increase in the employment of unskilled women would lead to lower wages as women would be doing the same work as skilled men.
Women had to deal with many other hardships in both their working and home lives. At work they often experienced hostility from both the men they were working with, and the men that they were replacing. Since they were usually paid less than men, it was feared that when the men returned from the war the women would be kept on instead of them. Male workers showed their disapproval by refusing to help women workers. They also played practical jokes on them, or gave them confusing instructions.
The First World War caused many men to leave their jobs and fight for their country. Women filled these jobs, and without the women, Britain would have probably lost the war due to the lack on munitions. Many people disapproved of women working, but the majority soon realised that it was essential that they did work. The events of 1915 (shell shortage) and 1916 (conscription) made people realise that more workers were needed, and that women were the answer. Despite this, women faced many hardships while working, and were frowned upon by society. The overall picture is that women were not appreciated but the war proved that women were tougher than everyone thought, "The great war has proved to men that women can share men's dangers, privations and hardships and yet remain women."