When the war started, many men where excited and willing to volunteer to be soldiers in the war because it made them look tough. They used the skills they learned from their jobs at home to help the war effort. They joined the area where their skills were most useful. In 1916, there was no sign of the war ending anytime soon, and less and less men volunteered. This was when conscription was introduced. Conscription was a law that was passed, forcing men to join the war. Throughout World War 1, many women were enlisted into jobs abandoned by the men who had gone to fight in the war. New jobs also opened up, for example in factories. The need for weapons was a result in the munitions factories becoming the largest single employer of women during 1918. At first, there was refusal towards hiring women for what was known as ‘men’s work’, once conscription was introduced in 1916, the need for women workers was crucial. Women started working in areas such as railway guards and ticket collectors, buses and tram conductors, postal workers, police, firefighter and as bank ‘tellers’ and clerks. Some even worked on heavy machinery. Nonetheless, women earned lower wages for doing the same work, and then demands for equal pay began. Since women were paid less than men, people worried that when the men would come back from the war, …show more content…
It was then obvious that these changes were only for the time of the war, and would go back to the way things were when the war ended. Before the war, there were more male teachers than there was female. As well as, there were no female teachers for boys. Women that were richer worked in more grammar schools than elementary schools. While men were out fighting in the war, more women were needed to work as teachers. Even though women had the same training as the men, women were given less than 80% of the men’s