WOMEN IN THE GREAT WAR

On the outbreak of war in 1914 there were two main suffrage movements in Britain, the women's social and political union (WSPU), a direct action campaigning group led by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Christabel, and an older organisation, the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, a largely pacifist organisation led by Millicent Fawcett. The Pankhursts struck a deal with the government which freed imprisoned suffragettes, receiving £2000 for their cause in return for encouraging women to take men's jobs to enable them to enlist. The move was controversial, but the Pankhursts rightly believed that support for the war effort would make it more likely in the future that women would get the vote. During WWI an estimated two million women entered the workplace, employed as taxi drivers, chimney sweeps, farm labourers, factory workers, mechanics, postwomen, barbers, railway employees and thousands of other jobs. Women were paid less than men for the same work and employers often wanted to keep them on after the war. Married women whose husbands were fighting received a separation allowance so long as they remained faithful. This informative book covers the main organisations overseeing women's work and lists those 241 nurses who lost their lives, with brief biographical details. Munitions was dangerous work, and an estimated 400 women lost their lives in explosions, eleven of which are described here, from Heckmondwike in 1914 to Chilwell in 1918. The work of the WAACs, Women's British Legion and other organisations is described, with a chapter on some remarkable women's achievements in the war including Dorothy Lawrence, who disguised herself and enlisted as a sapper, Edith Cavell, shot by the Germans for helping prisoners to escape, and Violet Constance Jessop, who survived the sinking of both the Titanic and the Britannia. 144pp, paperback, photos.