Term Paper On Working Women During World War I

Working Women during World War I
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The role of women in World War I is perhaps one of the most researched and studied topics of all time. These days, many great scholars and historian have been digging deeper and deeper to understand how women contributed to each and every economy’s rebuilding process (1). Not only this, but it has also been a point of interest for scholars that how governments reacted to women’s service during and after the war and what moved them to do so.
In a long discussion below, five sections have been created to distinguish roles played by women in countries like the United Kingdom, America, Canada, and Germany. The first section talks about women in general in which various aspects of their service are covered in a reasonable manner followed by country-specific sections.
Due to certain constraints, it is not possible to present an outline of the women’s service in every country that was in the war. Also, careful consideration is given in documenting these historical facts below, and no biases are exercised.
Women in General during WWI
During World War I, when the western countries were being torn apart, the infrastructure was demolished. The streets and buildings and everything around presented a horrific image with bodies lying here and there and crying children walking down the roads. During these disastrous years of WWI women sitting at home felt extreme pressure and desire to get out of their homes and earn sustenance to support their families while men were at the front line. This is when several women came forward and made their name.
It was not only desired but also was the demand and a call from the governments that women should come out and fill the spaces left behind by the men. Women came out from their houses in huge numbers in a response to this national call, and they filled in the spaces in factories, offices, local shops. They also joined the family businesses, garment factories, and even the munition factories. It will not be wrong to say here that women of that era did not really have any choice but not to work. They had to feed their children and members of the family. But, no matter what kind of work there was, they all contributed with utmost dedication.
The lifestyle completely changed for women. From being the housewives, they suddenly found themselves working and helping the economy cycle run. One could see that this had the potential for upcoming change in the world.
If we talk about specifically about the women working in munition factories, we come to know that they must have faced a really hard time. As their job was to produce munitions for the soldiers to use on the front line they were forced to work in poor conditions (2). The safety was at most risk as there was a constant danger looming on the heads of the workers. TNT plant in East London is one of many examples of this kind when an explosion resulted in the death of 73 workers.
Women in the United Kingdom
Working in these factories also gave birth to many health conditions. For instance, the munition factories were using chemicals like the Canaries that caused the workers’ skin to go yellow. Nobody really knew at that time what kind of health problems can be caused due to the yellow skin, but women kept on working. In order to keep up with the demand and keep the economy running there was no work-life balance on offer from the authorities to these women. They were required to do longer shifts that would last 12 hours and in some cases 13 hours. It has also been recorded that women at some places worked long shifts with no break for weeks and weeks.
The governments used propagandist tools such as posters to invoke various feelings in them. The posters were widely used to entice women so they can join the factories and other labor work. The images used on these posters did not represent the actual and accurate working conditions of the workplaces which were found out to be really poor as time passed. It was a full campaign run by the governments comprising of a different set of posters relaying various messages to women masses. One more poster circulated had an image of a woman looking out of the window, seeing soldiers heading for war. It was a technique used to make women persuade their men to fight for the country.
The visual propaganda was seen in another wartime poster that had a title ‘These Women Are Doing Their Bit.’ (3) This was to entice women to work purely in munition factories. The images produced on these wall posters were shown as women being cheerful and happy while working. Again, as aforementioned, none of these posters even tried to present the quality of the work these women were being called to do. The governments were lying and creating a propagandist space with the help of the media to communicate and penetrate a wrong message. They were being manipulative, in the other sense.
In a direct result of this brainwashing, women joined the factories in large numbers thinking that it would help them raise their standards of living with better wage rate; also, they will fulfill their patriotic duties. They left behind their house live, but they did not see that they were being pushed into a dangerous working environment.
Despite all this contribution and hard work, there was a huge pay gap for them. Women were offered nearly half of the wages for what men will get doing the same tasks. This was clearly an indicator of governments, not all but most, undermining women’s efforts and their contributions during war-torn country and economy.
During 1914-1918, there was war everywhere, and men, women, and children were all suffering from the ill effects of this age. Women were hired by the militaries to sew and knit the clothing for soldiers. There was nothing wrong with the work itself it was the way these women were treated. They were paid very low wages for their work, and sometimes they did not get anything at all. The word commonly used for women was ‘sacrifice.’ (4) They were asked to make sacrifices as the world was at war. Countries like Russia, Austria, Germany, UK, and France asked their women to do rationing as they were short-supplied with foodstuff. It came to a point when they did not have enough food for themselves and their loved ones.
During the four years of WWI, there was an unprecedented increase seen in the opportunities available for women at workplaces. The study shows that civil service sectors saw an increase of more than 1500 percent, transport sector 500+ percent and 500+ percent increase in chemical and metal factories collectively. Despite these huge numbers and demands and positive response from women they never matched the wage rate with what men would get.
Women, regardless of the wages and work-life challenges they faced, continued to work hard for the sustainability of their nations. They worked alongside men in some workplaces as well as alone. They did not, or could not, terminate their house duties and also raised their children with the utmost affection. Where women lost their husbands during the war, they portrayed a fatherly figure for their offspring which certainly was a mental and physical pressure to bear for all.
We will find many pictures circulating the internet and news media with women performing certain tasks during WWI. These pictures are the true representation of their sheer contribution towards rebuilding the nations again.
The media, as we know, has the tendency to make undeserving people hero and play down the figures who deserve more coverage due to their honest contributions. , but at the same time, it has kept a line between men and women. The media has portrayed sometimes that what women did was their duty and it was not a favor they did for their nation. Their contribution is a lot but not as much as men because the latter faced the more brutal part of the war whereas women were only doing their job in a much safer environment when compared to borders.
Study of the historical role of women in WWI reveals that women were mothering, nursing, and playing a pivotal role in domestic labor during this destructive phase. Perhaps, such suppression (from media to an extent) paved way for wh...