Employment of women compared to that of pr-war employment rose by 50.6 per cent; so public awareness of women in employment increased as the jobs the women were doing were in the public eye, such as bus and train drivers and they were also doing jobs that previously had belonged exclusively to men. This also showed many employers that women were often just as capable, efficient and if not better at the jobs then the men that had previously worked in them. But many employers still preferred men doing the jobs as after the war men were allowed straight back into their previous jobs and women where just chucked out without consideration it was not because they where worse workers but it was because women were still viewed as second class citizens and therefore had less rights then men. This didn’t really help women’s jobs opportunities as they were not wanted, but it did give them experience in new areas of work and it also showed employers, the government and the general public that woman where capable of a lot more then previously thought.
The First World War did allow women to show to Britain that they could work as well as men in professions and in lesser jobs if given the chance to; also the amount of work that women did during the war and it was extremely vital may have had an influence on women being able to vote.
But even when women were given the vote they still have the same voting rights as men did they had to be over 35 to be able to vote. But this was a double-edged sword after being given the vote many women lost their jobs. So women were still treated like second-class citizens, and after the ‘war to end all wars’ was over life for many women went back to as it was before they had their taste of freedom and the men had come back to rule as they had before.
One area of employment where the war helped women was in medicine; many women had gone to university and trained since the 1870’s became doctors and nurses and worked at home freeing up the men to go and work as field medics and also near the front line in the war because there was a shortage of male doctors and nurses. This was one area of employment where women would easily be able to retain their jobs as women often made better nurses than males. Many women after the war did retain their jobs in medicine so the war did help the job opportunities of women in this area of employment.
Another way that the First World War changed women’s employment opportunities was that the Sex Disqualification Act was passed this meant that it was illegal to discriminate against women in certain professions. Also the wart helped in other ways for women’s rights they were given rights within their marriages; they could divorce their husbands and for a variety of grounds.
Women’s opportunities in employment improved after the war, and the First World War also gave more rights to women in other areas of their lives. More women became Doctors and Teachers and because of the Sex Disqualification Act they were supposed to have equal rights as their fellow male employees this meant the same hours and the same pay.
