World War 1 Women in War ww1

A Housemaid WW 1

The Unsung Hero's of WW1

Before the outbreak of World War One in 1914 a woman's role in the workplace was quite restricted, jobs for women consisted mainly of domestic labor, nursing, teaching, and agriculture if their family owned a small holding.

Although some women were employed in factories they performed mainly menial and repetitive tasks and were paid a small percentage of what their male counterparts earned.

The Great War changed the role of women in the workplace forever, as more and more young men volunteered or were conscripted into the armed forces to fight in the war, women were called upon to fill their roles in the factories, mines and many other roles traditionally carried out by the men.

Women were the unsung hero's of the war, keeping the industrial wheels turning and the home fires burning.

The Woman's Army WW 1

Although very few women ever fought in The Great War women were enlisted into Auxiliary Armies, so that the men could be released to fight on the front line.

In the UK, many women joined the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, which later became known as Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps.

The women were largely employed on unglamorous tasks on the lines of communication: cooking and catering, store keeping, clerical work, telephony and administration, printing, motor vehicle maintenance.

women also became truck and ambulance drivers as more and more of the men were called to the front line.

The Women's Land Army

The Woman's Land Army

Because of naval battles and blockades during the war food supplies from abroad became scarce and food production on the home front had to be massively increased, in Britain 113,000 women joined the Women's Land Army which was set up in 1917, to provide a workforce to run the farms.

Many members of the land army came from the middle and upper classes of society.

They made a valuable contribution to the war effort, but there numbers were very few compared to the millions of working class women running the farms in the rest of Europe.

The Legion Of Death

The Legion of Death

A number of Russian women joined The Legion of Death, to fight for their country.

The First Battalion from St Petersburg distinguished themselves during a retreat by capturing over 100 German prisoners, sadly a lot of the battalion died during the battle.

Russia's women soldiers pledged to take their own lives rather than become German war prisoners. Each woman soldier carried a ration of cyanide of potassium to be swallowed in case of capture.

The members of the women regiments, agreed that death was to be preferred to the fate they would probably meet at the hands of the Germans.

Nurses on the Frontline

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Nursing on the Front Line WW1

With so many men fighting in the trenches, there were hundreds wounded every day, Nurses were brought to the front line, to help in the treatment of those wounded, being on the front line these women ran the risk of being hit by a stray bullet or even shelled during an enemy bombardment.

many of these women were killed whilst carrying out there duties

An Embroidered Handkerchief Sent to a loved one in the Trenches

Keep the Home Fires Burning

Even with their new duties women still found the time to write to their sons, boyfriends, husbands, brothers and friends who were fighting on the front line, sending them momento's from home such as pressed flowers from the garden, photographs and embroidered handkerchiefs.

These letters proved to be essential in boosting the morale of their homesick and frightened men.

Comments

Madison Martineau on November 11, 2016:

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tinkle bell on December 28, 2011:

Whoever wrote. Thx Really help me out in my HW.

katy on December 15, 2011:

thanks so so much! i'm glad you've said it in the way we speak - informal!

thanks so much! great help! it was so ineresting to see what life was like for women then!

thanks xxxx

jay on November 25, 2011:

HELPED ME A lot THANKS XOXOXOX

Little Miss Trouble on November 22, 2011:

Thankyouuu this is my History project just about finished

The info was interestion and very informative

Thanks

LMT

me on November 21, 2011:

thanx for the info. x

thelma on November 10, 2011:

wonterful,women are really important people in our lives. imagine whet the world would be like without them.

Hannah on November 03, 2011:

thank you

Georgia on October 25, 2011:

Thanks for the help, i enjoyed reading about this. I can't imagine how the women would feel during this. I love how you tell it like it is.

13 on September 22, 2011:

yay!!! that's my history home work just about done thanks for helping!!

harry on September 20, 2011:

good information, however i think you would benefit from doing it in other languages such as welsh, because its difficult to translate certain words and phrases and certain snetences. but did help me, very greatful :) itee but. :M xx

me on September 01, 2011:

wow thanks this helping soooooo much lol omg smiley faces

sammy on April 04, 2011:

helped me with my hard project

juytjjkljh on March 24, 2011:

who done farming in ww1 while the men were off fighting

Diego on March 19, 2011:

this is awesome for my hw, sooooo helpful thnx!

Lola on March 10, 2011:

Thank you! this was extremely helpful towards my History Project :)

eliud on March 10, 2011:

this was very helpful. thank you

dan on January 31, 2011:

thanks for the info

stephanie on January 29, 2011:

extreamly helpful thanx

im good like that on January 28, 2011:

its well good lol

charlotte on January 18, 2011:

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Issabella on December 09, 2010:

thanks this really helped me with my homework!

bella on November 21, 2010:

WHAT ABOUT THE ARMED FORCESS??? :S connfusedd from this website-thanks :(

Cameron M on November 20, 2010:

Thanks Jimmy, this really helped rejog my memory for my History Homework, all the other websites are crap.

mykayla on October 12, 2010:

this was every helpful... thank u!!

Vicky on September 27, 2010:

This is Fab!

kobe on September 02, 2010:

thanks for info

Christina Eskandari on July 24, 2010:

Very good information on here, but there is a word spelled wrong in the third paragraph of "Unsung Heros.." "Apon" is not a word, it is an acronym. I believe the word that is supposed to be used instead is "upon."

Anouser on July 01, 2010:

Which country is that housemaid in?

Bonnie Milnes on June 25, 2010:

very interesting sorce :)

the snort on May 30, 2010:

this is great thanx

Katie on May 27, 2010:

Thanks this helped ith my History Project

Kizaaaa on April 16, 2010:

Hiyaaa! I am soo glad I have read this! It has really helped me with my history project!. Yh yh Nicole you are right now guys wont just fnk gerls jus have pretty faces! :) :D But serious all my question is on this pagee! :D :) x x x :P ;

snort, on April 16, 2010:

Thanks this helped with my homework!

x lol x on April 13, 2010:

This articale is really good! It so is helping for my history homework, its in for tmrw! Thnx for all the gr8 info, it just shows the true meaning of GIRL POWER!

thanx!!!

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Unknown on March 29, 2010:

Thanks. It really helped me with my essay and gave me the information i needed.

vaneet2310 on March 29, 2010:

I am a big follower of World War I & II topics. Whenever I get time I go to the internet & search for new information about the War. But this piece of information is really new & informative for me. People rarely know about the women who were involved in the war.

Great Job!!!

Thx a lot for sharing this wonderful information.

jalo on March 15, 2010:

hey thanks it really helps in my humanities :)

history student on March 02, 2010:

it was alright... kinda boring though

princess on March 01, 2010:

thanks for story it helped on a project thanks

jono on February 25, 2010:

WOW great info really helped with my assignment. :)

someone lol on February 08, 2010:

i liked it kind of!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

floyd on January 16, 2010:

this is very helpful, thanks a lot. can anyone please help me with the topic: "why did men oppose the employment of women work in industry during the first world war" please, this is for my gcse coursework, any help will be appreciates. e-mail me at- floyd_rock@hotmail.co.uk

thanks a lot

Nicole on December 02, 2009:

Great infromation! this helped out A lot with my history report on Women in the War-1917. I can't beleive that women were so Nationalistic to their country that some would rather drink poison during the war. this stuff still amazes me and i hope that it opens the eyes to men that women are much much MUCH more than just a pretty face. :)

bob on November 28, 2009:

very cool you helped a lot woth my history project. Thank you

nat on November 11, 2009:

thanks! helped a lot

amber on October 25, 2009:

Love the info, but how would you cite this in a bibliography. please help.

lil miss shawty from school :p on September 25, 2009:

thank you mr'hub' .u helped me with my history homework on the women at war :D

erchelle on September 07, 2009:

hey baba hubsiee :) cheers for the info hub..

nice name hub..

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michin on September 02, 2009:

women should have had the same oppurtunities as men.

Leesha on August 30, 2009:

hey,

thanks for the great hub..

helped me with my assignment/speech :)

lol ty

kitcat on July 26, 2009:

I think this is good information

p0i8 on May 28, 2009:

this did not help me at all, good effort though

rhysl on May 17, 2009:

cool story my nans mum may have been in "the great War" HUB!!!

rhys on May 17, 2009:

good info man hub

Larry Dick on April 20, 2009:

Awesome shizzzz

scarlet on April 17, 2009:

this site is okaii

bob on March 30, 2009:

oh ya

Ashley Joy on March 26, 2009:

Wonderful work on the research for this hub! We rarely hear about the role that women play in war.

santosh1947 on March 18, 2009:

Hub

thank u so much for a nice info

LondonGirl from London on March 05, 2009:

lovely hub, thank you.

Two of my great-aunts were nurses during the Great War, one in France, one in Liverpool. It was far from being an easy life.

ameliehub from UK on February 06, 2009:

Great hub. Have joined recently and found this. Really nice. I thought women remain most of the time unheared. Have put all the things in interesting way....

livelovecoffee from Georgia on January 19, 2009:

Great hub. Lots of info I didn't know about. Thanks!!!!!!!

sam on October 22, 2008:

hey awesome website it is very usfull

trish1048 on October 04, 2008:

Interesting hubs on the war. It would be nice if you responded to comments, however. :)

ZipClip on September 25, 2008:

Very good hub

xxx on May 05, 2008:

what's your last name pleaseee!!:....i need it for mi bibliography....by the way....great info, thanx...!!

ash on May 04, 2008:

great info

Patrick Bernauw from Flanders (Belgium) on May 02, 2008:

Very interesting story!... I live in "Flanders Fields" and I am fascinated by "the Great War"!

wellness5 on May 01, 2008:

Good to see somebody writing about this- it is often forgotten. Thanks for the great hub.

Bob Ewing from New Brunswick on May 01, 2008:

Great hub and fascinating history, thanks.

Zsuzsy Bee from Ontario/Canada on May 01, 2008:

Very interesting HUB. I always find it hard to believe that it's been less then a hundred years when women started to get 'unwrapped'. Last year I read a book that was about the Russian women's battalion. I can't remember the author but I will find it. It was quite a harsh look at the way of war life.

awesome hub regards Zsuzsy

bluewings from Milkyway on May 01, 2008:

Amazing story!

Chuck Nugent from Tucson, Arizona on April 30, 2008:

Great Hub Jimmy.  Thomas Fleming in his book "The Illusion of Victory - America in World War I" devoted a chapter or two on women in World War I but, other than that, I haven't seen much on this prior to your Hub.  Always interesting.  Chuck