Coursework Assignment: Women and the war effort in Britain 1914-1918
World war one beginning in 1914 and ending in 1918 brought around many changes in Britain. One change was that many women were invited into the work place because men were fighting in war. Most of the work changes though came after conscription where men were forced to join the army. Many people and historians argue that these work changes for women would have happened anyway but just later and that war acted as a catalyst and sped up this process. I will be discussing various points on sources A to H, and answering three main questions.
Source A is propaganda and is unreliable but gives us an insight into what the government were really thinking. The source is unreliable because it has a very obvious aim, to get women into the work place. The poster, made in 1917 after subscription, shows us women being ‘equal to men. After subscription where it was mandatory for men to be in the army women were needed in the factories and propaganda was released to entice women into the work place. After careful study of the poster I found faults, which show that men still thought of themselves as higher than women. Small things such as the woman having to hold the flag with two hands and the mans flag being in front of hers shows that although women were ‘equal’ men were still the dominant race. I believe these faults to be made subconsciously by the artist, being propaganda to get women into the work place I don’t think the artist would have made small points like that deliberately. In 1917 the trade union came together and made the restoration of pre war practices act, allowing men to have their old jobs back after the war. This shows that women were just needed in the work place for the war, but straight after it they should go back into the home.
