The Changing Roles Of Women During World War One

Throughout the past century, the roles of women have been changing constantly. In this day and age, it is hard to imagine what women’s lives were like 100 years ago. Women were never free to have control over their own lives or do what they want, when they wanted. At the start of the 1900s, women were excluded from jobs because of their limited education or expectations given by the employer. Even today, women all around the world are faced with situations like this. The role of women started to change when World War One came around. During World War One, women made a significant impact on the war effort through their contributions at home, in the workforce and the Western front.
Firstly during World War One, women’s contributions at home …show more content…
Gaps were left in the workforce, such as factories and farms, and many of the men who worked in them were not there to fill those gaps. This is when women came in and took charge of the jobs. As a matter of fact, women worked in munition factories to prepare weaponry for the war. “They produced 80% of the weapons and shells used by the British Army”. World War One helped the role of women to change from mothers to munition workers. These women saw many opportunities in the workforce as the men left for war. Many women worked in munition factories that helped prepare weaponry for the war. Several women worked long shifts in bad conditions, which they were never used to. However, they were determined to work because they were finally able to do work to prove themselves to be as capable as men. All in all, women impacted the war effort by working in these factories as they made most of the weaponry during World War One. Not to mention, “women’s employment rates increased from 23.6% of the working age population in 1914 to between 37.7% and 46.7% in 1918” because of the various other jobs they took a role in. “They took up jobs as railway guards and ticket collectors, buses and tram conductors, postal workers, police, firefighters and bank tellers”. Women were not able to work out of their homes before war was declared. The employment rate was only based on how many men worked. Nevertheless, employment rates changed drastically for women as they worked in the workforce. As more women joined the workforce and helped the war effort, the employment rates went up. This was a sign that women were actually making a difference and their roles were changing for the better. Although, on the negative side, women were still getting very low wages compared to men that did the same