Why did the number of women employed in Britain begin to rise significantly from mid-1915?

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Assignment One: Objective 1

Why did the number of women employed in Britain begin to rise significantly from mid-1915?

In 1911 the government census revealed that 11 million adult women did not have a paid job. The main reason as to why many women in Britain were not employed is that women were expected to marry and become housewives. Their job was to care for their husbands and raise children. However working class women had no choice other than to work. The most common job for working class women at the time was domestic service. 1.5 million women worked as domestic servants working long hours as cooks, cleaners or chambermaids. 500,000 women worked in the sweated trades and 900,000 women worked in the textiles industry. The textiles industry was a major employer of women. Women were usually paid two-thirds of a man’s wage or less.

When the First World War broke out in 1914, women had to fill in jobs that men had left behind them to go and fight. More and more men went to fight in the war and by mid 1915; Britain's workforce was seriously depleted.  

In the spring of 1915, Herbert Asquith (famous for his “business as usual” motto), went on a speaking tour of Britain to talk to the ‘Workers of Industry.’ This was clearly an attempt to boost the morale on the Home Front as the war dragged on into its second year. Entry to Asquith’s meetings was free, but by ticket only. Printed clearly on every ticket were the words, ‘ This meeting is for men only.’ The significance of the words was obvious: women were not considered to be part of the war effort.

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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 ...

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