World War I and Women

Women have been required to play important roles in conflicts and wars, but many authors have never properly acknowledged such efforts for documentation. In a similar vein, women contributed significantly before, during, and after World War I, but men’s contributions have always received the majority of attention. Despite such attitudes toward women, it is undeniably true that women contributed significantly to the First World War, rising to the situation to fill the many necessary roles that necessitated their participation. This paper focuses on a discussion of the roles that women played during the period of the First World War and how the roles contributed to the war in general.

Even before the start of World War I, women had played significant roles as part of numerous war efforts with roles in various capacities, based on the consideration that historically, wars have always been men’s affair. The women that participated in such wars had to serve alongside men and as such, had to disguise themselves in such a way that no one would tell who was a man and who was not (Gavin 28). With World War I, however, such a perspective began to change, and women became a part of the warfare as women and no more disguise. In the United States, the First World War had women participate in the same capacity as men after being enlisted as part of the Navy and Marine Corps. While just a few of the women made it into battlefields, the remaining majority had their roles changed from what they had previously been used to, to take up the men’s roles in various areas following the men’s participation in the war. As a result, women begun to work in different capacities in the various occupations vacated by the men including factories, Red Cross, office, transportation, and many other areas previously dominated by men.

Before the start of the World War I, men played the major role of breadwinners in their families, with their jobs mostly tiring and requiring lots of strength. While women also worked, their jobs mainly are done in their individual homes or the homes of others. From the women that were part of the workforce, the majority was unmarried and worked as servants, contributing to about 30% of the whole women’s population (Hacker 652). For the majority of women that worked, the jobs majorly entailed the simple home tasks such as washing, sewing, ironing, and getting paid depending on the how much they paid. For the women that had no paid jobs, being housewives was equally a task for them, with the mandate of caring for the families and helping with various tasks such as farm work among others.

The life of women changed significantly with World War I. While a majority of analysts have made conclusions that such a change had a wholly positive impact on the women, the numerous incidences of the women’s suffering are something not to ignore in the entire discussion. The major contributing factors to such a conclusion that the World War I changes on women were for the positive impact is that the changes led to the providing new possibilities for women in the world of work and strengthening of their case in fighting for their rights in various activities previously taken as a men-only affair. A good example of such rights was the right to vote. Women were never part of any democratic process and any woman who would want her voice heard would have it in her man’s contributions. Despite having believed in their equality to men regarding capability regarding performing different tasks, the women’s inferiority complex never allowed for the voicing of such concerns, especially regarding work which was majorly an entirely men’s affair.

In addition, the reality on the ground was different and indeed not all the opportunities provided by the war were of positive impact on the women. Besides, women had been in various working positions before, even though their numbers were insignificant in comparison to that of the men. As such, women in paid employment positions were never a new phenomenon in the early 1900s. A small number of women were already a part of the industrial workforce before the start of the First World War, and their primary concentration was in the textile industry where their contributions were of vital importance (Greenwald 123). Working in the textile industry for women was never by accident. Before industrial revolution that made a significant contribution to the enhanced industrialization, women were mainly home workers with roles that included sewing of clothes. With the development of industry, work opportunities for women in the industries were opened, especially those that never required lots of strength to perform. The textile industry, therefore, became the best solution for females’ demand for equal job opportunities in the industrialization era (Holm 41).

With the start of World War I and a majority of men already taken into the battlefield, women became an important lot for the industrial workforce. As the war intensified, the need for shells increased and as such women had opportunities in the munitions manufacturing, with their number increasing significantly to a million marks by 1918 for those in the different aspects of munitions work (Hacker 669). The war also opened up new opportunities for women in various fields. Indeed the First World War saw women for the first time serve as uniformed officers, commonly known as police officers. With the men who previously served in such capacities taken into the war, replacements were the women whose main tasks were the maintenance of discipline among the other women both in the industries and in the hostels, while also closely monitoring them for any changes in behavior (Holm 75). Considering that a majority of the women taken up for jobs in the industries had no prior experience in such duties, there was an increased possibility that they could engage in activities that would endanger their lives and that of others while at the factors. The women officers, therefore, had the task of inspecting women out and within the industries in ensuring that they had no materials that would cause explosions in the sectors, in particular for those in munitions work.

Despite the fact that women’s new roles in various capacities were of significant benefit, such roles also presented challenges in equal measure. The munitions work, for example, has relatively good payment from what a majority of the women were previously earning, however, the tasks performed were equally unpleasant, dangerous, and most involved working for longer periods. The more the war intensified, the higher the demand for the shells, and therefore, the need to work more hours to balance the urgency. Furthermore, the women that worked in the shell industries had to interact with TNT, a known harmful component with explosive capabilities and a potential of causing fatal conditions, which included the skin turning yellow. With the new exposure to such elements, a significant number of women were involved in accidents that claimed their lives such as the case in the devastating explosion at Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, whose aftermath was one of the worst after claiming a total of 134 lives (Holm 198).

Ideally, women have been taking part in the military during different instances of war, only that a primary focus has always been on the actual warfare while the women’s capacities have been one not recognized as the military. Over the past many years, women often followed men to the wars to offer support through the dispensation of services such as cooking, nursing, and laundry. Evidently, without such services, the armies would never function as efficient as they would be required, considering that some focus would be lost while they attend to such duties, thus, giving the enemies an opportunity to stage an attack. Following the beginning of World War I, women had the same responsibilities they had previously performed as well as new ones. In the United States, for example, women played a significantly important role in the First World War, long even before the nation joined the war. Before the United States entering the World War I, their women had formed and joined various relief to dispense organizations, with many other coming into the limelight after the United States acceded to the Allies in the war. The appropriate organization of the women relief groups in expanding and supporting the war effort helped the involved women gain respect from the fellow citizenry for their patriotic course in the war (Gavin 60).

One significant differential aspect between women participation in wars previously and during the First World War is that of the class of the women involved. While the previous wars saw women from the working class follow the men to wars, the First World War presented a significantly different picture with the involvement of women from all classes, regardless of whether working or not, with each serving in various capacities. With the upper-class women forming the main relief foundations that offered various assistance to the men in the war, those in the middle and lower classes participated in the organizations as nurses while others took over the former duties undertaken by people at home (Gavin 59). As the war progressed, many families have torn apart, an occurrence that forced women to take up new roles. The American women were at war at all times during the war period. Ideally, the World War I marked the ‘first’ for the American women.

Unlike the previous instances in which women’s roles were limited to the easy tasks, World War I provided the first opportunity for the women to join the armed forces. The military was never for women as it was believed that it was the men’s role to offer protection both at home and to the nation. As such, women were often limited in their choice of duties and most instances forced out of various jobs based on their gender. The fact that certain jobs were the reserve for men saw women face significant discrimination with different trade unions in industries such as those of building and engineering stage strong protest against women taking up jobs in such industries (Jenson 275). Following such protests, the end of war became another difficult moment for the women. A majority lost their jobs upon return of the men. However, to a different perspective, women equally benefited significantly upon the completion of the war. Having shown undisputed effort during the war from their participation, women from most of the developed nations including the US, Britain, Canada, and other European countries had their previously denied right to vote lifted and an opportunity to exercise their democratic rights offered.

For a nation such as Russia, women were of great importance during the warfare. Unlike many other countries where women’s roles were out of the battlefields, despite participating in the war, Russia’s case had women take up combat roles. Indeed, Russia stands as the only nation that deployed a substantive amount of female combats into war troops (Jenson 218). The Russian women battalions achieved measurable success in their war, however, such never contributed much into influencing the government into allowed their continued participation. The women’s battalion was, therefore, ended within a year of their deployment for the women to offer services in other areas.

The various successes women had in their different areas of implementation were eminent. However, despite such success, some concerns were raised. Based on the consideration that women received lesser pay for an almost same task than what the men did before the war, many people were worried that upon completion of the war, most employers would still opt for women employees even after the return of the men. Contrary to such perceptions, upon the return of people, a majority of women were sacked from their previous held jobs to create opportunities for the returning men. For those that opted to continue working, were put in same tasks as men but paid lower wages as had previously been anticipated. Such unequal treatment of the women resulted in strikes where the women demanded better wages for their services. A commission formed to look into the women’s grievances endorsed the principle of equal pay for equal work done (Greenwald 212). However, even with such endorsement, other concerns still emerged. The female gender is known to be of lesser strength as compared to the men. Moreover, women have particular health problems and as such would not have an equal output in a performance that would match that of the men. Based on such reasoning, the modern and government’s perception that women would be less productive than men took precedence, despite the women’s efficient performance in the men’s jobs during the war (Jenson 301).

One question many would ask is what impact the war had on women. Arguably, the war had a significant impact on women both on the positive and negative perspectives in equal measure. For some women, the end of the war was an opening to new opportunities; however, to the other end, there were lost opportunities, all in equal measures. Among the benefits the women received was the removal of the sex disqualification Act of 1919, which had previously made gender a factor of consideration in employment with the ladies becoming the victims (Greenwald 59). The removal of such a clause made it illegal to exclude women from jobs based on their gender. For the women in the elite and educated class, opportunities previously closed because of male dominance were opened. Similarly, in the political arena, the Representation of the People Act saw women have a voice in the British government for the first time. Such an occurrence ensured that women would have an opportunity to have their concerns addressed by their fellow women as opposed to previous instances in which men who had such a mandate failed to meet their targets.

Upon the end of the war, women experienced a significant economic downside. With troops returning after the emerging victorious in the battles, many women found themselves in an excess in the various employment sectors where they had replaced the men who went to war. The women were forced to leave their wartime roles in various industries and returning to their home-based duties. Most of the affected women were those in the technical industries such as engineering where men had dominated earlier (Gavin 108). Such a situation pointed to the fact that the women would have to resort to low-income jobs such as farm work and family care. This contributed to an economic downside as they would not make contributions to the relatives as they previously had. To worsen the situation, some of the women lost their husbands during the war and after dismissal from the jobs they have taken up during the war were left more exposed to fend for their families in the hardest of times. The result of the economic hardship was a lowered living standard for the women’s families.

Another challenge that came post-war for the women, despite the efficient performance during the war was electoral inequality. Even though the Suffragette movement got their much-needed recognition after a decade of championing for such equality, the members only got a partial victory as the age limit for women to vote put at 30 while that of men remained at 21 (Holm 52). This ensured that the number of women’s representation in the elections would remain low, despite the chance to cast their votes. Based on such a consideration, the general election of December 1918 ended with only a single woman voted into parliament.

Following the completion of the First World War, a new drawback came for a majority of women. While some returned to the various places that the society had destined for them, a good number refused. From the new skills learned during the war, the women believed they had all it takes to make a difference. World War II was looming after bombing of the Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, forcing America to make entry into the war. Again, the women power was in demand, with a continued change in roles at tremendous speeds. Whereas there had been previous opposition to women being the party of the American Army, the World War II presented another opportunity to exercise the gained experience from World War I. Based on such considerations, women had a chance of joining the army for the non-combat jobs. Indeed World War I was a defining moment for the female gender.

Works Cited

Gavin, Lettie. American Women in World War I: They Also Served. University Press of Colorado, 2006.

Greenwald, Maurine Weiner. Women, War, and Work: The Impact of World War I on Women Workers in the United States. Cornell University Press, 1990.

Hacker, Barton C. “Women and Military Institutions in Early Modern Europe: A Reconnaissance,” Signs, vol. 6, no. 4, 1981, pp. 644-674.

Holm, Jeanne. Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution. Gower Publishing Company, Limited, 1992.

Jenson, Kimberly. ”Volunteers, Auxiliaries, and Women’s Mobilization: The First World War and Beyond (1914–1939),” in A Companion to Women’s Military History, ed. Barton C. Hacker and Margaret Vining, 2012, pp. 215-318.