The Impact of the War on Women

1
The Impact of the War on Womens Lives and
Experiences in Britain.

• Economic Impact
• Political Impact
• Social Impact

2
Economic Impact
The declaration of war saw a massive influx of
women into the workforce, as the men left the
country to fight in the war. Authorities
initially believed that women were not capable of
contributing to the workforce. The first form of
employment women became involved in was
voluntary. Nursing was seen as the most
acceptable form of war work for middle and
upper class women. As food shortages became more
apparent the Womens Land Army formed to assist
farmers to maintain agricultural production, this
was not a popular form of employment. Womens
branches of the armed services formed these were
the Womens Army Auxiliary Corps, Womens Royal
Air Force and Womens Royal Navy Service. Women
also became part of the police force.
Working-class women found work in munitions
factories, conditions in these factories were
tough. During the war women gained higher wages,
more equal pay and greater access to work which
allowed them higher disposable income. After the
war women were disappointed as they were forced
to return domestic service.

• Source One Source Two Source Three Source
  Four

3
Political Impact
Prior to the war, women were devoting their time
to campaign for the right to vote in
parliamentary elections. However, when war was
declared main suffragette movements were
postponed as women devoted themself to be of
assistance to war efforts. Emmeline Pankhurst and
her daughter Christobel were key figures in the
Womens Social and Political Union (WSPU) whom
during the war redirected their campaigning
efforts towards encouraging men to enlist in the
war and to encouraging women to join the
workforce. Some believe that the granting of the
vote to women under the Representation of the
People Act 1918 was a reward for their war
efforts. However this recognition was only for
women that were over thirty and a householder or
married to a householder, in effect it failed to
enfranchise five million mainly working class
women of the total population of eleven million.

• Source One Source Two Source Three Source
  Four

4
Social Impact
The war improved the position of women in
society, particularly during the war. However,
differences in age, class and geographical
location affected the impact of the war on women.
Most women who were employed during the war were
from the working class, who already had jobs in
other areas. The war was revolutionary for
middle-class women as it freed them from the
restraints of the home and allowed them to attain
the liberty of gaining employment. Middle class
women were for more literate than those of the
working class therefore it is mainly their
accounts of the war experience which have been
recorded. The end of the war disappointed women
as they wanted to continue the increased freedom
and pay which they had become accustomed too.
Source One Source Two Source Three Source
Four
5
Number of Women in Britain in paid employment in
1914 and 1918
Title Employment of Women in Britain During
the War Perspective Based on the Report of the
War Cabinet Committee on Women in Industry, 1919.
A British Committee. Location Evidence of War
Textbook
  July 1914 July 1918
Self-employed and employees 430 000 470 000
Industry 2 178 600 2 970 600
Domestic Service 1 658 000 1 248 000
Commerce 505 000 934 000
National and Local Government 262 600 460 200
Agriculture 190 000 228 000
Hotels, public houses and theatre 181 000 220 000
Transport 18 000 117 000
Others 542 500 652 00
Total employed 5 966 000 7 310 500
This source is useful for studying the overall
increase of women in the workforce in Britain as
a result of the war demonstrated in the
difference in total employment between 1914 and
1918. It also demonstrates which industries women
were involved in and the rate of change from the
beginning to the end of the war.
6

• However, the war did not inflate women's wages.
  Employers circumvented wartime equal pay
  regulations by employing several women to replace
  one man, or by dividing skilled tasks into
  several less skilled stages. In these ways, women
  could be employed at a lower wage and not said to
  be 'replacing' a man directly.
• Professor Joanna Bourke

Title extract from Working Conditions Unionism
and Pay Perspective of British Professor Joanna
Bourke, post war. Location www.bbc.co.uk/history/
british/britain
This source is useful for studying the impact of
the war on women's wages during the war as well
as their role in replacing men , while also
comparing pay conditions women were experiencing
to the previous conditions of men. It also shows
how factory owners viewed women by replacing
several women to replace one man.
7

• The Song of the Sock
• Stitch, stitch, stitch!
• The women are there in a flock,
• Youll do the leg and Ill do the foot
• Lets all be useful, though we cant shoot.
• And they sang the song of the sock.
• For when by war their countrys hit
• English ladies will always knit.

Title The Song of the Sock Perspective women
working in textiles factories in Britain during
WWI Location http//www.firstworldwar.com/
This source is useful for a historian studying
the attitudes of women towards the tasks involved
in their wartime jobs. It is also useful for
studying their commitment to war time efforts as
portrayed in the last two lines of the source. It
was a well known chant created by women at the
time, therefore it reflects the opinion of a
multitude of women.
8
Title On Her their Lives Depend Perspective
British Government during World War
One. Location World War One Textbook
This source is useful for studying propaganda
used by the government to encourage women to work
in munitions factories during the war. It also
demonstrates how the government viewed the role
of women in war efforts.
9

• Finally, some historians believe that the war
  was a key element in the granting of the
  franchise to women over the age of 30 years who
  held property in 1918. However, gratitude for
  women's war work cannot explain why only women
  over the age of 30 got the vote while it was the
  younger women who had done the work. Rather, it
  is more convincing to argue that the lobbying of
  the feminist movement and the commitment of the
  Labour Party to a wider franchise were crucial
  factors. In addition, it was a case of the
  suffragists being around at the right time.
• Professor Joanna Bourke

Title extract from The Vote Perspective
British Professor Joanna Bourke, post
war. Location www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/brita
in
This source is useful for studying the impact of
the war and women's wartime contributions on
their struggle for the vote, as well its impact
on the decision to grant the and other reasons
which contributed to the enfranchisement of women
in Britain.
10

• Title The War Workers
• Perspective Punch, or the London Charivari in
  1916, the public of London
• Location Excel HSC Modern History

This source is useful for study the public
opinion of the impact of the war on female
suffrage. The impact of distraction from
campaigning is pertinent in the women's response.
Also through the males phrasing of the question
using the word cackle portrays men's demeaning
view of female suffrage.
11

• During the war years, the principle energies of
  the Women Police Service were naturally directed
  towards assisting in keeping England fit for the
  struggle, we of the executive had another and
  even bigger aim. We had not forgotten our wider
  suffragette ideals we looked forward, far beyond
  that shadowy time Apres la guerre finit! to an
  era when women should receive the fruits of their
  labours
• Mary S. Allen

Title extract from Lady In Blue Perspective
Mary S. Allen, militant suffragette and member of
WSPU, British Feminist during World War
One Location Lady In Blue, Google books
This source is useful for studying the
consistency of the suffragette movement
throughout the war and how executive women such
as Mary Allen used their positions gained through
war efforts to achieve suffragette ideals.
12

• Title Votes for Heroines as well as Heroes
• Perspective the Paper For Women, paper
  written and viewed by female suffragettes in 1915
• Location Textbook, Key Features of Modern History

This source is useful for studying the opinions
of female suffragists regarding the vote during
the war. It shows how women used their
contributions of the war to justify their demands
for enfranchisement . As well as their beliefs in
equality as a result of the increased freedom
which the war granted women.
13
Title Perspective Gail Braybon, pioneering
British feminist of WWI Location
http//www.pbs.prg/greatwar/historian/hist_braybon
_01_women.html

• I think many women did find the war a genuinely
  liberating experience They knew that their
  friends, relations, husbands, sons were abroad.
  They were dying. There was a shell shortage. And
  they felt they really could do something to
  support the war effort. It was very exciting for
  a lot of them.
• Gail Braybon

This source is useful for studying a secondary
researched opinion on the general attitudes of
women towards the war and the social impact which
the war had on women. It specifically mentions
the munitions factory through referring to the
shell shortage.
14

• Title In a League of Their Own Book Cover
• Perspective Nettie Honeyball, pioneer of womens
  Football League , during WWI
• Location
• www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Fhoneyball.htm

This source is useful for studying the liberation
and emergence of feminism during WWI,
particularly through undertaking football as a
hobby, which demonstrates feminist beliefs in
equality. The book which this picture is
promoting follows the process of the uprising of
feminism involved with womens football during
the war.
15

• The outward signs of their freedom were flaunted
  gaily. Many used language that would have shocked
  their mothers many started to wear cosmetics
  smoking became widespread and women bought
  drinks in public houses. Before the war short
  skirts and brassieres had come in. During the war
  they completely ousted long dresses and
  camisoles. Well-meaning committees tried to
  discourage Land Girls who, like most women doing
  heavy work or working outside, wore trousers from
  wearing them off-duty, but without success.
• In defiance of the ever present casualty figures,
  England was gripped by a feverish gaiety. Give
  boys on leave a good time was the universal
  sentiment. As one woman remembered it, If these
  young women who, as they read the casualty lists,
  felt fear in their hearts, did not seize
  experience at once, they knew that for many of
  them it would elude them forever. Sex became both
  precious and unimportant precious as a personal
  experience unimportant as something without
  implications. Young girls were gripped by khaki
  fever and hovered around army camps. By the end
  of war the illegitimacy rate had increased 30
  percent. The marriage rate also increased
  sharply. Many marriages swiftly contracted,
  swiftly broke up. There were three times as many
  divorces in 1920 as in 1910.Black, L, Women at
  War and Work

Title extract from Women at War and
Work Perspective L. Black, published by Purnell
in London, popular British audience, common
opinion Location Textbook, World War One
This source is useful for studying the ways in
which life changed for women in Britain during
WWI. It makes specific reference to the change
in clothing by women as a result of increased
freedom as well as the change in perception of
sex and the impact of the war on divorce and
marriage.
16
Title extract from The First World
War Perspective I. Cawood and D. Mckinnon-Bell,
British Historians, published by Routledge in
London, well known publisher , common opinion.
Location Textbook World War One
Of all the changes wrought by war, none has been
greater than the change in the status and
position of women, but it is not so much that the
woman herself has changed but that mans
perception of her has changed. I. Cawood and D.
McKinnon-Bell
This source is useful as it analyses and makes a
judgement on the most important impact of the war
on women. Not only does it state the most
important impact on women but it also refers to
changing attitudes of men towards women as a
result of the war.