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GCSE PAPER ONE WOMEN IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR |
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For example, try
and get a sense of changes relating to † pay, conditions and types of job and a sense of different phases † before the war, during the early part of the war, as war develops, after the war. |
Think about how you will present your findings.
Also
look at the pictures of women at work during the First World
War - click here. |
Before the war.
Source A. Wage rates for men
and women workers before the First World War.
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Source B - A description of domestic service before the First World War.
When I was about 14 years of age I went to service for about 18 months. I did not like it at all because you was on from morning to night and you never did know when you was done. You never did get your meals in peace for you are up and down all the time. You only get half a day a week and you never get very large wages in service. You never know when you are going to get a good place. |
Source C - This is from a school textbook. Before the First World War there were very few jobs for women. THe most common was domestic service. Hundreds of thousands of women worked as servants. many women also worked in textile factories. The worst conditions were in the sweated trades where women worked in their own home for piece rates. |
During the war.
| Source D - This is from a school
textbook. When the First World War began in August 1914 most people believed that it would be over in a few months. But by 1915 it was obvious that the war was going to last years. In May 1915 the army in France began to run out of shells. David Lloyd George opened many new factories to produce munitions. He called for women to volunteer to work in them. |
| Source E - This account was
written by a woman who went to work in a munitions factory. I was in domestic service and 'hated every minute of it' when the war broke out, earning £2 a month working from 6.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m. So when the need came for women 'war-workers' my chance came to 'get out'. I started on hand cutting shell fuses. We worked twelve hours a day, apart from the journey morning and night. As for wages, I though I was very well off earning £5 a week. |
Source F -
This poster was produced by the government in 1916. |
Source G - This account was written in 1915. Women have discarded their petticoats. There
are girls at the wheels of half the cars that pass. If you go
by train, women will handle your luggage. if you choose bus
or tram, the conductress in her smart uniform has long been
a familiar figure in our streets. |
Source H - This table shows
how many women were working in some industries at the beginning
of the First World War and at the end.
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Source I - This
is the nearest I could find on the net to an interesting photograph
of a factory during the First World War.
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