"Source A is propaganda and, therefore, it is of little use as evidence about the importance of women in the First World War." Do you agree or disagree?
"Source A is propaganda and, therefore, it is of little use as evidence about the importance of women in the First World War."
Do you agree or disagree?
Explain your answer, using Source A and your own knowledge.
Source A is the cover from a wartime magazine called "The War-Worker". The woman in the drawing is wearing trousers, has short or tied back hair and is wearing a uniform, like the man. This shows how the situation changed for some women during the war - some were employed
It is very useful as an example of propaganda. The picture shows men and women in equality: the woman is the same height as the man in the picture; she mirrors his stance; they both have one foot on a platform, and they both carry a flag. The list of contents also shows the rising importance of women, as it shows that women wrote at least two of the articles. The clouds in the background give a heavenly, glamorous image, and there are no gruesome pictures or stories about the fighting.
This magazine was published in June 1917, after horrendous Allied losses at the Somme and Verdun the previous year, and after Passchendaele earlier in the year. It gave this glamorous view of the war in order to build up morale
2 Is Source C more reliable than Source E as evidence about how enthusiastic women were to support the war effort in the First World War?
Explain your answer using Sources C and E and your own knowledge.
Source C is an extract from a book called "on her their lives depend", that was written in 1994 by Angela Woollacott. It tells us that, in one policewoman's experience, women workers in some factories were prone to striking. This is a secondary source, so the author will have had the benefit of hindsight and other sources, both primary and secondary, to gather information from. However, it is very limited in that it is only two lines from a whole book and it would be interesting to see the rest of the book. The author's purpose should be to inform, but we do not know of any personal bias that she might have.
Source E is an extract from a newspaper from July 1915. It is very positive and says wonderful things about women's contributions to the war, and calls it an "overwhelming demonstration of its unconquerable and undivided spirit". It is a primary source, and so the author had the advantage of being there at the time, but it was written as propaganda to encourage women to start working, and it is therefore likely to be heavily biased. This is also limited in that it is only three lines from an article, and it would be useful to see the rest of the article.
Both Sources have advantages and disadvantages, and both must be treated with caution. Source E was written as propaganda, so it is likely to cast a very positive light on the women in order to flatter them, but Source C is one person's negative experience with women workers.
3 Sources D and G give different interpretations of the attitudes towards women that existed during the war.
Why do they differ?
Explain your answer using Sources D and G and your own knowledge.
Source D is an extract from a book, "War and Society ...
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Both Sources have advantages and disadvantages, and both must be treated with caution. Source E was written as propaganda, so it is likely to cast a very positive light on the women in order to flatter them, but Source C is one person's negative experience with women workers.
3 Sources D and G give different interpretations of the attitudes towards women that existed during the war.
Why do they differ?
Explain your answer using Sources D and G and your own knowledge.
Source D is an extract from a book, "War and Society in Britain" by Rex Pope. It tells us that male attitudes to their female co-workers remained negative and that they were often victims of hostility and sometimes sabotage. We are told that the men felt threatened by the women's ability to work as it meant that more males were vulnerable to conscription. The book was written in 1991, so it is a secondary source, and the author had the opportunity to look at many primary sources and gather information. The book was written to inform, and not for any other purpose, so it is unlikely to be biased, although the possibility of personal bias cannot be ruled out.
Source G is an extract from a war magazine written in 1915. It praises the contribution made by women in the war, saying, "today's woman is essentially a comrade to man". It also writes "Woman" with a capital letter, emphasising the fact that they had become more important. However it also tells us that she can do her share in terms of crisis", showing us that the author thought that it was temporary, but many women would not have picked up on this because this was the first time they were being treated equally with men and being praised for their work, and so they only heard the positive points. This magazine was written during the war as propaganda to encourage women to join the workforce; therefore it is likely to be heavily biased.
Sources D and G differ because they were written by different people at different times for different purposes. Source D was written in 1991 by a historian in order to inform people about women in the war, but Source G was written for a war magazine in 1915 in order to encourage more women to work.
4 Why do you think Source F was taken?
Explain your answer using Source F and your own knowledge
Source F is a photograph of a woman conductor on a London tram during the First World War. She looks very smart in her neat uniform and on an immaculate tram, and she is smiling and looking happy. The photo was taken so that it could be used as propaganda to encourage women to start working, because so many men were away fighting, there were not enough men to replace them, especially after conscription was introduced in 1916. This photo is limited because it only shows one moment in time at one particular place, however, seeing women working became increasingly common as the war went on, and the numbers of women working increased overall by 23% between July 1914 and July 1918. The transport sector was remarkable because although it had the lowest number of women working in it, there was a huge increase of 544%, from 18,200 to 117,200 in the four years. Many women benefited from working, despite the long hours and hard conditions, as they gained freedom, independence and money.
"War work proved to be a great leap forward for British women"
Do Sources A to G provide enough evidence to prove this interpretation to be true?
Explain your answer using all the Sources and your own knowledge.
During the First World War, women were accepted as workers for the first time, as they were given jobs that belonged to the men who went to fight. There was an even greater need for women workers after 1916, when conscription was introduced and all men between 18 and 51 had to serve in the armed forces, taking them away from their regular jobs.
The number of women working in Britain increased by 23% between July 1914 and July 1918. At first women mainly went into munitions factories, where it was hard and dangerous work - there were several explosions, and the acidic fumes harmed their lungs and turned their skin bright yellow. They also served as nurses and cooks in France: those from the working classes worked for little pay in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, the Women's Royal Navy Service, and the Women's Royal Air Force; those from the middle and upper classes that could afford to, worked with voluntary, unpaid groups such as the Voluntary Aid Detachment. By 1916, after conscription, women started to be employed in more normal lines of work, such as transport, as the men that did these jobs had been called up to the army.
In the short term, when the war ended, men that had survived came back and wanted their jobs back, and they were expected to go back to looking after the children and the home. Many women were forced or pressured out of their jobs by The Restoration of Pre-war Practices Act in 1919, they were now told by newspapers and magazines that their greatest duty was to look after their children and women working in the armed forces were dismissed immediately.
Despite most women losing their jobs at the end of the war, they had proved that they were quite capable of doing jobs that formerly had belonged to men. Many women had earned a higher wage than ever before and had tasted independence for the first time. Others had taken part in campaigns for peace, lower rent and equal pay with men. All this meant that their self-confidence had increased dramatically, and this could not have been taken away from them.
In December 1918, women over 30 were given the vote, although this was not on equal terms with men. This gave them more confidence and they were soon pushing for equal terms, which they eventually got in SEE NOTES. However, the vote was a political change, and while it made women feel more important, it had little effect on their day to day lives.
Although working gave women more independence, they often faced great limitations because of their sex. They were not paid as much as men, which caused some workers to strike. In some cities, pubs would not serve women workers in the evenings, and women near the front were not allowed to spend their off-duty time with men. The jobs available to them were also limiting: in the armed forces they were only allowed to do traditionally female jobs such as cooking, nursing, cleaning, waitressing and clerical work
For some women, life did not change during the war, and they stayed at home and looked after the house and children as they had always done. Most of these women were from the middle and upper classes, as women from the working classes could not afford to do this.
For those women that did work in the war, their social and economic situations remained much the same as they had been before the war. Women were still considered inferior to men, and since many did not work, they did not have their own money.
Source A supports the view that war work was a great leap for women. The picture shows a woman on the same level as a male soldier, and she seems equally important to the war effort. However, this was produced as propaganda therefore it is not reliable as I explained in (1).
Source B also supports this view, and claims that as a direct result of war work, women soon got the vote on equal terms with men. However, this is very brief and simplified as it is from a book on World War One as a whole, not specifically on women in the war. It is a secondary source, so the author will have had the benefit of hindsight and other sources. It was written to inform so the authors should have been unbiased, but we so not know of any personal bias.
Source E supports the view that war work was a great leap for women, and it is actually called historic that the "womanhood of England" demanded the right to work for their country. However, it was produced as propaganda to flatter the women and therefore it is not reliable as I explained in (2).
Source F supports this view, as it shows a woman in a uniform working on a tram as a conductor. However, this was also produced to encourage women to work and it is not reliable as I explained in (4).
Source G also supports the idea of a great leap, and it is praising women for doing their share. However, it also says that they can do it in times of crisis, which implicates that the author thought that they were only temporary changes. However, this was produced as propaganda and it is not reliable as I explained in (3).
Source D also shows us that there were women workers in the war, but it shows how little their social positions changed as they were subject to hostility and sometimes sabotage from their male co-workers. However this source is not reliable as I explained in (3).
Source C tells us that there were women worker in the war, although it says that, in this person's experience, they were prone to striking. However, it is not reliable as I
explained in (2).
During the war, war work gave women an opportunity to taste independence and to demonstrate that they were equally capable to work as men were. Despite these great wartime changes, after the war the situation mainly returned to what it had been before the war. but women had been able to demonstrate
