WOMEN IN THE WAR

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At the time of the First World War, many women had been barred from voting, and also banned from serving in military combat roles. Many saw the war as an opportunity to not only serve the country, but also to gain many more rights, and independence, something that first wave feminism was all about. With millions of men already away at war, women seeked to help and stand on the front line in whatever way they could. Whilst women were not allowed to fight in the war, they began to fill agricultural and manufacturing positions on the home front. Others provided support on the front line as nurses, as doctors, as ambulance drivers, translators and in rare cases, even on the battlefield. Conditions were dangerous for women to travel into war zones, as they would be at risk of enemy fire, and for many women, this was the first time they had ever left Britain, risking their lives for the sake of our country.

Before the start of the First World War, there were around 200 female doctors, compared to the 35,000 female doctors of today, and due to a shortage of trained medical staff during World War One, this left a large hole for women to take up opportunities within a range of crucial roles. Whilst nurses were accepted on the front, women physicians faced obstacles putting their hard earned skills to use. To begin with, life on the front line was considered an adventure. However, all too quickly the reality of the situation began to arise, the reality that being at war was sadder than the stories they had previously read. The Salvation Army, The Red Cross, and many other organisations began to depend on thousands of female volunteers. During the last Allied offensive in the summer and fall of 1918, many women doctors, nurses and aides operated near the front lines, providing medical care for soldiers wounded in combat.

The nations at war began mobilizing their entire populations, because the side that could produce more weapons, and supply the larger troops would prevail in the end. Women began to take on new roles within the workforce, notably in war production, as well as agriculture. In July 1914, 3.3 million women worked in paid employment throughout Britain. By July 1917, this number had risen to 4.7 million. Women served in uniform, in the Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force. In fact, the last known surviving veteran of World War One was Florence Green, who served in the RAF and died in 2012.

In the United States, women began taking what had traditionally been stated as ‘male’ jobs, and African American women were able to take their first major shift from domestic employment (domestic employment includes tasks such as: cleaning, cooking, washing and ironing, taking care of a family), to work in offices and even factories. Recent research shows that a small number of African American women were able to serve overseas,

as volunteers with the YMCA. Even women in more traditional housewife roles began to contribute to the war effort. Women were expected to bolster the morale of their families, as well as their loved ones overseas.

The Pankhurst family saw the war as an opportunity to provide new employment for women. At least one million women were formally added to the British workforce between 1914 and 1918. However, throughout the war, both the press and the government tended, for propaganda reasons, to exaggerate the extent in which women had taken over traditional ‘mens’ jobs, and actually, the amount of female dentists, barbers and architects were still incredibly rare. For the majority, most male-dominated professions remained closed opportunities for women. Women were still treated as inferior, and even in areas where women were employed in large numbers (such as munition and transport), women were still treated as stop-gap replacements for the men away at war. Moreover, whilst women's wages during the war were routinely classified as ‘high’ by the wartime press, they still remained significantly lower than those within their male counterparts.

The representation of the peoples act (The Representation of the People Act 1918 widened suffrage by abolishing practically all property qualifications for men and by enfranchising women over 30 who met minimum property qualifications.) was widely portrayed as a ‘reward’ for female contribution and labor to the war effort. But whilst the act came with the fact that all men over 21 could vote, only women over the age of 30 were granted the same privilege.

In the wake of the Second World War, once again, women took on a variety of jobs whilst men were posted at stations around the world, women playing a vital role on the home front, whilst also running households and fighting their own battles daily with the country's rationing system. Alongside, recycling, re-using and cultivating their own foods in allotments and gardens. From 1941, women were called up for a wide range of jobs to help with the war efforts, like being mechanics, engineers, munitions workers, air raid wardens, fire engine and bus drivers too. To begin with, only single women were called up to work in the war, but by mid-1943, over 90% of single women and 80% of married women had joined up to help with the war efforts, working in factories, on the land, or even in the armed forces. This differs from the women of the First World War, after The Representation of The People’s act (1928), we see women gaining a host of different rights, including the right to vote, they were now able to exercise within the war efforts.

There were over 640,000 women in the armed forces, including The Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS), the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), plus many more who flew unarmed aircraft, drove ambulances, served as nurses and worked behind enemy lines in the European resistance in the Special Operations Executive. The most notable member of the ATS during the Second World War was the then Princess Elizabeth. She trained as a driver and mechanic and reached the rank of Junior Commander. Winston Churchill’s youngest daughter, Mary Churchill (later Lady Soames) also served as a member of the ATS. Away from the roles considered as ‘vital’ , more than 80,000 women joined the Women’s Land Army, enduring long hours in tough conditions in isolated rural outposts in order to prevent Britain from being ‘starved out’ . The women who worked on the farms and land were known as ‘land army girls’ and were given their own uniform, much like the men enlisted into the armed forces. The achievements of women during the war are rightfully celebrated today, usually for VE Day, which in 2020 celebrated its 75th anniversary.

The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth in 1945, aged 19

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