The First World War gave women the opportunity to work in the armed services; they joined the Voluntary Aid Detachments and worked behind the lines as nurses or giving out soup in the soup kitchens behind the frontline. Women also did office jobs in the army by joining organisations such as the Women’s Auxiliary Corps, which freed men up to fight.
However some male attitudes to female workers was negative; many women could perform the same skilled work as men, but they were paid less. Some men believed that the women would take their jobs because they were paid less, and in consequence employers would save money. As a result, some men were hostile to women workers and sabotaged their work. There were trade unions, such as the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, which refused to admit women as members. Therefore it can be seen that women’s working opportunities were limited.
(c) During the First World War the British government had to extend its control over economic and social affairs to make the war run well. Although, at first the government refused to admit that the war would last longer than expected and Asquith kept with the business as usual approach. However by mid-1915 it became clear that the war would last longer and the government first started to intervene.
The government took over key industries such as transport. This would ensure that the necessary personnel and military supplies into the Armed forces as soon as possible. Prior to the outbreak of the war there were 130 railway companies, but when the government took control the individual companies were unified by the Railway Executive Committee. It was imperative for the government to take over the rail service because before the war the trains were unreliable and The government set up a ministry of Shipping; which ordered more merchant ships to be built, a convey system was adopted where battle ships would travel with the merchant ships, and coordinating the activities of the docks.
Another important area of state intervention was food production. At first the government simply left the distribution of food to the free market, but by mid-1916 the shortage of food in the country had become a serious problem, and farmers were taking advantage of this by raising their prices; Lloyd George set up a Ministry of Food under Lord Davenport, to combat this problem. In 1917, the British government decided to ration food, but Davenport insisted the prices of food and rationing should be left to the shopkeepers. It was not until Davenport was replaced by Lord Rhondda, that the rationing of food and prices was properly controlled. Prices of bread and potatoes were kept down so that everyone could afford some food. By 1918, sugar, meat, butter, jam and margarine were rationed. The government needed to do this because people were not using their food wisely.
The coal mining industry was essential because coal fuelled people’s homes in winter and it also powered Britain’s industries. In 1915, after a coal-miners strike the government decided to put price controls on coal and then in 1917, Lloyd George appointed a coal controller to keep the price of coal at pre-war levels. However the government’s intervention was considered inadequate as output declined near the end of the war, the labour relations remained resentful and there were frequent strikes.
War was expensive, it was calculated that in 1916 the British government were spending £3.85 million a day, so to finance it the government increased income tax. Income tax was a direct tax which everyone would have to pay and it was easy to raise the taxes rapidly. In 1914 income tax was 13p per £1, by 1918 income tax had risen to 30p per £1. EPD was introduced in 1915, which taxed all profits that exceeded pre-war levels. There was a general acceptation of an increase in tax because they knew that besides funding the government, tax money would ensure the country would continue to fight and Britain’s economy would be run efficiently.
At the start of the war no attempt was made to restrict the amount of men volunteering for the army, as a result many skilled labourers were fighting in the front line but their skills were needed back in Britain. For example, 19.5% of male engineers were in the armed forces by July 1915. To stop a further loss of skilled labours, the minister of munitions, Lloyd George, introduced ‘exemption badges’ for men who have jobs essential to the war effort. Another way the government filled the gaps left by skilled workers was to force the trade unions to let unskilled workers, both male and female, to take over skilled jobs, such as munitions work and engineering. Here the government were directing the workforce to critical jobs because they were necessary for winning the war.
For the first time during the war the state became a major employer. By 1918, 250 new National Shell factories were built from public funds. The state also controlled existing establishments; for example by November 1918 there were 20,000 munitions factories under the government’s control. In addition, in these controlled establishments profits were limited to pre-war levels plus one-fifth. The government had to control these industries because with the requirement for their goods, employers could raise the prices high, which would not have been beneficial to the war effort.
At the start of the war many men volunteered to join the army, in September 1914 450,000; however by December 1915 this figure had dropped to just 55,000. To increase the amount of men in the army, conscription was introduced in January 1916. This was the first time the state forced thousands of men to join the army and it was a highly controversial issue, which caused Asquith and many other Liberal MP’s to split from the co-illation government.
State intervention was necessary during the war, as inflation had risen so high that the economy could not function without the government’s help. The amount of state control was remarkable; it encompassed all Britain’s basic industries, agriculture and transport. State control also extended to social issues such as labour placements in key jobs and forcing some men to go to war. Without state intervention Britain would not have been able to continue fighting in the war as the country would have been in serious debt and there would not have been enough military supplies to run it efficiently.
