The First World War was fought on two fronts. In a military sense it was
fought on the battlefields throughout Europe, the Gallipoli peninsular
and other such theaters of war, but on the Home Front it was the arduous
efforts of women that kept the country running.
Before the war women in the workplace were employed in such jobs as
domestic service, clerical work, shop assistants, teachers or as
barmaids. These jobs were nearly all undertaken by single women, as once
they were married their job swiftly became that a of a wife, mother and
home maker. The outbreak of the war changed all of that. Suddenly, women
were catapulted into a whole new sphere of work that had previously been
the sole domain of men. Women began to work in munitions factories, as
nurses in military hospitals, bus drivers, mechanics, taxi drivers, as
well as running homes and looking after children, all whilst worrying
about their men folk who were away fighting a war in some foreign clime,
not knowing if they were ever going to see them again.
With the work came a wage, which provided women with financial freedom
for the first time, as well as an element of independence and social
integration, which they would have possibly never otherwise experienced.
Women were not paid the same wages as men for doing the same work, but
what they did earn was much more than they had ever earned before.
This was also a time of the suffrage movement, who wanted more out of
life for women. Accordingly, some of these women were reluctant to stop
working, with some of these being sacked so that returning soldiers
could have their prewar jobs back. Whilst, tens of thousands of women
were left widowed, many with young children to bring up. Despite all of
this, one thing was for sure, for lots of women there was no going back
to how things had been before the war. There was only going to be one
way, and that was forward.
