World War 1 resulted in a division of genders, with men fighting on the battlefield and primarily women working on the home front (4)As it was a total war, all aspects and citizens in society were involved (1)
Resulted in two movements within women of society: one spontaneous and voluntary, from the women at home, and the other shaking the grounds of traditional gendered roles in France
1. WOMEN AT HOME: As men were shipped off to the front for war in 1914, over 120,000 women signed up to become nurses for the wounded, despite only 30,000 being paid (4). The charitability of many women during the war was divided between a drive to be useful and upper class respectability, as many wanted the status of having comforted and helped men during the …show more content…
WORKING WOMEN: As war dragged on, ammunition and supplies became increasingly rare and more and more men were being sent to the front lines. Women were called upon to replace their male counterparts in industrial labor. From 1914-1918, France mobilised 60% of its male citizens, or 8 million men (4).
7 million women had no jobs due to the disorganization of labour during the war, and the compensation for soldiers’ wives provided by the government for lost revenue was not enough for most families.
Rene Viviani led the first case of mobilised working women, when she called on peasant women in August 7, 1914 to fulfill the jobs of the farmers who had been called to war. 3,200,000 agricultural women filled in the jobs to harvest crops for the next year (6)
Women started filling up jobs in many sectors, such as education. finance, transportation, and eventually industrial labour.
Factories first turned to affectés spéciaux, “special soldiers” who were not qualified for the front line, foreign manpower, and even war prisoners before they began to seriously consider mass hiring of female
Resulted in two movements within women of society: one spontaneous and voluntary, from the women at home, and the other shaking the grounds of traditional gendered roles in France
1. WOMEN AT HOME: As men were shipped off to the front for war in 1914, over 120,000 women signed up to become nurses for the wounded, despite only 30,000 being paid (4). The charitability of many women during the war was divided between a drive to be useful and upper class respectability, as many wanted the status of having comforted and helped men during the …show more content…
WORKING WOMEN: As war dragged on, ammunition and supplies became increasingly rare and more and more men were being sent to the front lines. Women were called upon to replace their male counterparts in industrial labor. From 1914-1918, France mobilised 60% of its male citizens, or 8 million men (4).
7 million women had no jobs due to the disorganization of labour during the war, and the compensation for soldiers’ wives provided by the government for lost revenue was not enough for most families.
Rene Viviani led the first case of mobilised working women, when she called on peasant women in August 7, 1914 to fulfill the jobs of the farmers who had been called to war. 3,200,000 agricultural women filled in the jobs to harvest crops for the next year (6)
Women started filling up jobs in many sectors, such as education. finance, transportation, and eventually industrial labour.
Factories first turned to affectés spéciaux, “special soldiers” who were not qualified for the front line, foreign manpower, and even war prisoners before they began to seriously consider mass hiring of female