The Roles of Women During War Times

The time between July 1914 to November 1918 is considered as one of the most brutal and rough periods in the history of the humans, this period is also known as World War I or First World War. As a result of many conflicts among the opposing countries, millions of people had lost their lives, including soldiers and innocent people such as children. All of the world’s assets were used and all nations fought among each other, which is why this period is considered also as a complete war. Anyone that had the ability to work had to work and fight on the battlefield. Thereby, with millions of men away from home, large numbers of women had to replace them, so they started working in fields that were considered as more manly, such as workers in factories, ticket collectors, and office jobs across the country. Women are usually associated with weeping, cleaning at home, and just waiting quietly at home for their husbands to come back. However, women are not these “dumb” or blind creatures that they are sometimes portrayed, they were an important part of the Great war and they should be recognized as a significant component of the war effort. Many females saw the war as an opportunity for freedom or independence and not just serving their nations. Consequently, World War I gave women an opportunity to play an important role in the victory of the war which had an impact on them and permanently changed the lives of all women, even though it came at an immense cost by sacrificing their lives and working in factories under horrific conditions or fighting in the trenches.

Between 1914 and 1918 more than one million women took the opportunity to enter the workforce and replace the empty woking places of the fighting men in the war. At the battlefield they showed consistent work, by serving as nurses or ambulance drivers, some helped by working in the factories or in ammunition mills and much more. Women were also used as spies, since many believe that they wouldn’t be suspieces and therefore wouldn’t be uncovered. Women's Royal Air Force was established in Britain, where women worked as mechanics for aircraft. Thereby, the traditional family system was often totally altered, as the death of their husbands compelled many women into the workforce. A new statistic came out that, “Women’s employment rates increased during WWI, from 23.6% of the working age population in 1914 to between 37.7% and 46.7% in 1918”, even though it is hard to get the exact numbers, the percentage of women working grew rapidly. For instance, 200,000 British women during this period worked in government departments, half a million in private clerical positions and another quarter of a million in agriculture. However, this is nothing in comparison to the high number of women that worked in the munitions department, which was absolutely dangerous. The most frequent wartime woman profession was producing munitions for the front. They were under constant pressure by the pace of the war, and not to mention the horrific circumstances they were forced to work under. The following image is drawn in Woolwich Arsenal during the First World War. But what's the real story behind this picture? Accidents happened on a daily basis, which caused many deaths of these innocent women. A mentioned, their working conditions were horrible, the workers were exposed to very poisonous substances, which under normal conditions are treated with safety measures and by providing adequate protective clothing for the employees. Furthermore, many women had to work more than 12 hour shifts in order to maintain pace with demand from the front line – some even worked 13 days without a break. Although, this can be seen as gauge of their willingness to sacrifice everything for their nation, it should rather be read that they have been seen as inexpensive, readily replaceable labor. Additionally, women were often referred to as canaries, because of the yellow tint their skin acquired from working with sulfur. On top of that, even though they worked the same they only received half men’s wages.

Additionally, during the war women didn’t even attended combat, most of them were at the home front, while a small percentage went close to the actual battlefieldt. To many, though, the idea of combat was horrible and disgusting. This was a traditionalist attitude, but even feminists argued that women’s job was not to bear arms, but to bear armies. And that engaging in combat would undermine that, it was only those who fought for their nation, i.e, men, who had a right to vote. Additionally, during this period women could not vote in most of the world. Dorothy Lawrence, a 20 year old journalist, was the only the only women soldier who joined the British Army, however she only succeeded in doing that by pretending to be a man under the false name, Denis Smith. Nevertheless, this adventure didn’t last long and she had to reveal herself after only 10 days due to misunderstandings with the authorities. Dorothy was forced to keep her adventure silent, since the British Army feared ridicule. On the other hand, a Russian female soldier, Maria Bochkareva, in 1917 convinced the revolutionary leader Alexander Kerensky to m make a battalion only of women, and its purpose was shaming men who refused to fight at the battlefield. She hired 2,000 females, and only 250 witnessed actual fighting together with male troops on the Austrian Front. That led to forming an all women unit with government support, The Russian Women’s Battalion Of Death. Even though actual combat was forbidden for women in all warring nations, they often worked on the front as nurses or ambulance drivers, and many of them got killed by the enemy fire.

Moreover, women also played a crucial role in war propaganda, depicting victims in posters and subsequent movies, but also in recruitment. This poster used in Ireland featured a woman standing with a rifle in front of a burning Belgium, with the heading “Will you go or must I?”. This was a common theme - applying pressure on men to fight or else be unmanly. There were also Britain’s white feather campaigns, where women gave as a symbol of fear to non-uniformed men, the idea being to shame them to not going to war. Their goal was new range of occupations and opportunities for women to be opened, since all men went to fight.

Furthermore, separation of class wasn’t the only thing people differed, but also by their gender. Women were not equal to men, regardless how rich they were. As mentioned, women workers had lower wages than men, despite performing the same labor. In 1917, a study discovered that equal pay for equal job should be given, however it was assumed that females would produce less than males because of their 'lesser strength and special health problems'. Being less paid wasn’t the only thing they differed from men, women didn’t have a right to vote either. This encouraged women to fight for equality, since they realised that they are as important as men. Many movements for equality were raised, and big percentage of those failed. An excerpt from Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Solitude of Self, mentions that “To guide our own craft, we must be captain, pilot, engineer; with chart and compass to [...] Nature having endowed them equally, leaves them to their own skill and judgment in the hour of danger, and, if not equal to the occasion, alike they perish”. It states that in order to make decisions women must have the wheel in their hands, which will leave that to their own skills and judgments. Therefore, their work finally paid off, due to working some manly positions, they succeeded in changing some stereotypical views towards women and even have the right to vote. For instance, 8.4 million women were given to vote in Britain at the end of the war, these were women over the age of 30. The Eligibility of Women Act was also passed at this time, meaning that some women could now be elected to Parliament. However, they still weren’t treated equally with males, who had the right to vote at 21 years old, many had to fight to enable this for women as well, and they did after 10 years. Germany, Russia and the new Polish Republic all gave suffrage for women in 1918, Austria in 1919 and USA in 1920.

In general, the First World war gave women an opportunity to gain new social and economic options and also stronger political voices despite some still viewed them only as mothers first. Even though cultural stereotypes were harder to change, many typical feminine standards vanished, and females appeared quite differently before 1914 and after 1918. Many began to wear shorter hair, shorter skirts and even pants. Also, due to their fight for equality new forms of social interaction between genders and across class lines became feasible, however, expectations about family and household life stayed unchanged.

In conclusion, sometimes women’s roles during the war are underappreciated, they were serving, working and dying in dangerous conditions often without any acknowledgment, turning their lives upside down and becoming breadwinners in their own right, and of course, grieving for the millions of lost husbands, fathers and sons. Even with limitations, due to the First World War in some way a brand new world opened up for women, but it came at an immense cost.