A topic I have always been interested in was the work that the women of Britain did during World War One. In Britain, the role of the female members of society briefly changed. Many of the male members of society either voluntarily signed up to fight or were conscripted as the conflict began to inflict huge damage on the forces of either side. The question was, who was going to work in the factories producing the weapons of war? The answer was the women!
The Great War produced a proportional leap in the employment of women which took them from being 26% to 36%[1]. In 1915 after the passing of the Munitions of War Act, many people began to believe that the government should allow women to work in all areas of industry[2]. As the war raged on and large numbers of women began to work in the munitions factories, they gained the nickname ‘muntionettes’. In May 1918 the secretary to the Minister of Munitions publicly announced that there were 1,000,000 women working in the munitions industry[3]. Many women saw this as an opportunity to prove themselves worthy of the vote by stepping up to help the nation in its time of strife[4]. The war allowed women to show they could complete roles that society thought was beyond them, as it was believed that women’s roles in society were to be wives and mothers[5].
Unfortunately for many women, working in these factories would bring short and long-term health problems, and in some cases death. Many of the substances that these women would work with on a daily basis were harmful to their health. The chemical trinitrotoluene would turn the women’s hands yellow, and these women were given the nickname the ‘canary girls’. In fact, these women who were now yellow due to the chemicals were often refused service in some cafes as they were considered rough and ill mannered[6].
Image 1 – Female munitions workers in a factory at Chilwell Nottinghamshire, Milner Ernest, Imperial War Museum.
Harmful chemicals were not the only danger in these factories, the TNT which was being transferred into the shells often exploded, ending in many fatalities and serious injuries in and around the area of the munitions factories. The fruits of their labor came in the large numbers of munitions being produced, a factory in Gloucestershire filed over 17 million shells in the four years of the war!
Image 2 -The Venesta Factory which was involved in the tea trade, following a detonation of 83 tonnes of TNT at a munitions factory in Silvertown East London on January 19th 1917, Imperial War Museum.
British women stepped up to the plate when they were needed and contributed heavily to the success of the British army with the large numbers of munitions supplies being produced. For their efforts women over the age of 30 who met property qualifications were awarded with the vote.
References:
[1] Angela Woollacott, On Her Their Lives Depend: Munitions Workers in the Great War, University of California Press, 1994, p. 17.
[2] Angela K. Smith (2003) ‘The Pankhurst’s and the War: Suffrage Magazines and First World War Propaganda’, Women’s History Review, 12:1, 103-118, p. 112.
[3] Woollacott, On Her Their Lives Depend, p. 18.
[4] Smith, ‘Pankhurst’s and the War’, p. 111.
[5] Clare Wightman, More than Munitions: Women, Work and Engineering Industries 1900-1950, Routledge, 2014, p. 50.
[6] Deborah Thom, Nice Girls and Rude Girls: Women Workers in World War 1, I.B. Taurus, 2000, p. 135.
Bibliography:
Smith, K. Angela. (2003) ‘The Pankhurst’s and the War: Suffrage Magazines and First World War Propaganda’, Women’s History Review, 12:1, 103-118.
Thom, D. Nice Girls and Rude Girls: Women Workers in World War 1, I.B. Taurus, 2000.
Wightman, C. More than Munitions: Women, Work and Engineering Industries 1900-1950, Routledge, 2014.
Woollacott, A. On Her Their Lives Depend: Munitions Workers in the Great War, University of California Press, 1994.
Images Used:
Image 1 – Female munitions workers in a factory at Chilwell Nottinghamshire, created by Milner Ernest, Imperial War Museum, HU 96426.
Image 2 – The Venesta Factory which was involved in the tea trade, following a detonation of 83 tonnes of TNT at a munitions factory in Silvertown East London on January 19th 1917, Imperial War Museum, Q 15364.
Britain and rights 