2.
By 1915 war had broken out and many men had gone to fight, and this was the first time women had been given the chance to do manual labour. At the out break of war only volunteers left for war and many men were left to still do the work and women were could only knit garments for the troops and fund raise to help the war effort. On 17th July 1915 Christabel Pankhurst organised a “right to serve” march to be able to work and help the war effort. Over 60,000 women were involved. Later in 1916 lack of men in France caused conscription and every man between 18 and 41 had to go to war leaving staggering job vacancies.
The women’s opportunities of work grew, as in 1915 there was a shell shortage on the western front because not enough were being produced. The government gave Mrs Pankhurst £3000 to organise women to do war work; the government also used propaganda posters to get women to work. A national register “women’s war register” in which women between 16-65 years registered so the government could acknowledge who could work. Women filled all sorts of jobs, many of them dangerous and skilled. They worked in shipyards and drove trams, buses and ambulances. Women also built aeroplanes and airships. Farming the land 48,000 women worked on the land as part of the women’s land army. Most of them had had experience in farming as on a farm, wives and children were expected to work without pay anyway. Munitions work was the occupation that most women were employed in, as in 1918 900,000 women were involved in munitions industry. The women worked with dangerous chemicals in the manufacture of shells and weapons, these chemicals turned the women yellow and women in munitions were known as “canaries” Women also worked for the army doing clerical and administrative work freeing up men to go to the front. In 1915 the marchioness of Londonderry set up the women’s legion and organised more than 400,000 women to work as cooks and nurses in the army.
3.
After the war many women lost their jobs as when the soldiers came home their was unemployment so women made way for the men who fought for their country as the men left their jobs to fight. The men still prejudiced against women made the women go back to their old jobs in the domestic service and so after the war women went back to similar jobs, as before, the women did not want to go back to the domestic service. In comparison to before the war women were very unlikely to ever get to become more equal to men as women would never be able to get a chance to show that they could work. But the war meant that they showed that women could do jobs that men did and unlike before the war women believed it was possible to eventually be able to work.
The First World War brought about dramatic changes in the way women were viewed and how they viewed themselves. Pre war women were regarded as second class citizens by many; they were seen as weak compared to men. Some women protested (the suffragettes) to change the way men regarded them and for the right to vote. During the war women became increasingly important to the war effort due to the mass of volunteers of men and later conscription to the armed forces. By the end of the war the men came home and things took a backward step though some progress was made. In 1919 the government passed the “ sex disqualification act, allowing women into a number of professions; barristers, solicitors, auctioneers, surveyors, architects, judges and serve on a jury which were forbidden for women to do before the war. Women now believed that they could and should be able to do what men do and were not second class citizens.
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