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Women's Jobs In Ww1

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World War One brought several changes to people’s lives and countries as they went to war with one another. With majority of men leaving to go fight, the spaces left in their jobs needed to be filled. Therefore, women needed to give up their traditional roles inside the home doing ‘feminine jobs’, and instead go help with the war effort by filling those gaps. “There were many areas of work where women had not been seen before”. World War One brought changes to women’s jobs, as women were seen - for the first time - in what were considered to be men’s jobs, they travelled overseas to serve in the workforce, and new uniformed services were established for them to join the armed forces. With the start of the war, women served in new jobs …show more content…

However, with so many men leaving for war, there was a farm labour shortage. In addition, with the German naval blockade stopping Britain’s food imports, famine loomed and harvest failed. This led to employment of women on farms, who “assisted in all aspects of farm work”. The Women’s Land Army - with over a quarter million volunteers - was created. In 1918, there were over 20,000 Land Girls who milked cows, ploughed, herded, and thatched. During this period, “a great deal of farm work was done by men”, but women were called to this job to fill the …show more content…

“World War I was the first time in American history in which women were officially attached to arms of the American military and government agencies”. There was now a rise in the number of women taking jobs in offices, performing administrative tasks. “200,000 women took up jobs in governmental departments” and “500,000 took up clerical positions in private offices”. Women who previously clerked in retail sales shifted to office clerking, and file clerks adapted to answering phone calls in a corporate exchange. Women also served in government roles including as postal workers, firefighters, bank tellers, and police officers. The first women police officers served during World War One. They maintained discipline, monitored women’s behavior in hotels and factories, carried out inspections in factories to prevent explosions, and patrolled public areas. World War One caused a major shift in job roles of women, and they were seen in places they never had before, as it had always been seen ‘inappropriate’ for them, and suitable for men only. The war was what drove women into these new

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World War 1 played a crucial role in aiding the movement for female equality in Canada, however, it also hindered it by contributing to the enforcement of gender roles in the workplace. Not one single event will end the constant battle women must endure in all aspects of life, though certain opportunities, such as the job opportunities received during the war, most certainly help women in the fighting of said battle. When numerous jobs were left open by men who were called to the front lines of the war, women were finally presented with the opportunity to work outside of their homes for the first time and provide for their families. Next, generous amounts of awareness of social change were brought to light for women’s contributions throughout

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The jobs were more varied than before as women were no longer being shielded from the war and its hardships. Many organizations did not allow for women to work as soldiers, but they were telephone operators in America, also known as “Hello Girls” (“Women During World War I”). Women were taking bigger steps towards equality and challenging the social norm of women being housewives by working the jobs traditionally meant for men, while successfully creating a stable Homefront and workforce for the war. There were still restrictions as women could not to work abroad or on board ships as they were not thought to be trained enough to be near battle (“Women During World War I”). Though not all women could work, others became volunteers, which was “of central importance to middle class women” (“Campbell”).

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Many jobs became a job because the war needed materials to be made. Some other fields women had jobs in were teachers, factory workers, bus-conductress, lift-girl, bank clerk, ticket-collector, motor-driver, munition maker, police, firefighter and many other jobs. Tough jobs were in high demand such as keeping furnaces hot, building ships, unloading coal. Since it was the most dangerous and dirty jobs, not everyone wanted that position. “Industries that previously excluded women now welcomed them” (John Simkin).

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Typical farm labor was short during WWII, and food being a necessity; it started with the wives of farmers. The wives of farmers worked overtime, and long hours to provide for the new laborers. With crazy shortages of manpower in a time of high demand for food, over 20,000 Land Army Girls gathered to take the places of the men that left at the farms and help to keep the nation fed (Markham 150). With all of the typical male farmhands being drafted into the armed forces, women had to take over. A country cannot function well without food, especially during a world war, so these women were very beneficial to the home front and the war efforts overall.

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The war had provided a variety of employment opportunities for women and the most common job for women was at home, working in factories and filling in positions for their husbands, fathers, and brothers in their absence. Although the highest demand for workers were in previously male-dominated

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In the book written by (Gavin, 1997) it was cited that “As women took over from their absent men in hundreds of new and challenging occupations, many of which had previously been considered inappropriate”. From the beginning of the World War 1, the German women were participating a great deal. They contributed to half a million-people working on the munitions manufacturing alone (Gavin, 1997). It also mentioned in the book that over in the U.S, the men in charge refused to let the women participate up until April 1917 (Gavin, 1997). The U.S government never formally authorize the enrolment of women, despite Army officials repeatedly asking for such personnel’s.

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Women were not respected equally as men and even though they worked really tough, they were recognized as the ones who had to substitute men and their activities since men went to fight for their country. Basically, World War 1 had many changes in gender norms and traditional roles. Women worked everyday for almost twenty hours a day. They had many jobs in the ones’ they could be in. In factories, women helped by packing cordite and explosives into bullets and shells.

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