User talk:Jimm607

Describe the employment opportunities of women in Britain in 1914 at the outbreak of the war.

Women’s employment opportunities in Britain in 1914 were incredibly poor. The few jobs that were available to women often were underpaid, had long working hours and poor working conditions with little or no chance for promotion. The woman’s place was seen to be at home caring for her family, not at work which was seen as the mans place.

Of the very few women employed; as little as 5.9 million of the 23.7 million women in Britain, a large majority was working in domestic service. This further proves that a women’s place was seen looking after a family and home. Conditions for a domestic servant were incredibly poor; often the domestic servant would live in the attic of houses and worked long hours for low wages as low as £5-10 per year, however domestic service was a popular choice as women were given very little education; leaving school at just twelve, and domestic service required little education.

Another job which women were concentrated in was the textiles industry. Again as in domestic service the conditions in the textiles industry was poor, and even though women were able to do most of the jobs available in the textile industry, the higher jobs were usually taken by men, such as overseers, with the women performing the labour.

The jobs that the women in 1914 were doing could be compared to that of slaves, with incredibly low wage and terrible conditions performing difficult and sometimes dangerous or painful tasks with few breaks and time off. The reasons for this is mainly because of how women were seen by men. They were seen as being unable to perform the tasks that men were, although this usually was not true. Women were not given much of an education; women usually leaving school at twelve and receiving no secondary education meant that they would not be qualified for better jobs and would be forced into jobs such as domestic service and the textiles industry.

Women suffered much discrimination in the workplace, receiving lower wages and in worse conditions. There were no laws at the time protecting women from this discrimination meaning that employers were able to work them harder for less money, women had the choice to accept these conditions or be jobless, as women also had no right to vote.

Although women were able to get a secondary education and go to university, and had even been able to become doctors since the 1870s, it was not common, with as little as five percent of women getting a secondary education and even less going to university. The opportunity of women in 1914 at the outbreak of the war was not great, best described as close to slavery.

Why did the number of women employed in Britain begin to rise significantly from mid-1915?

Before 1915 very few women were employed, however the first world war saw a huge increase in the number of women working in Britain, women were working in munitions factories, as nurses in France working alongside British soldiers.

There were many reasons for the rise in women workers in Britain, the most significant of which was that they were needed, although ‘business as usual’ was maintained as much as possible it was clear that women would have to go into work. One obvious reason for this was the Shell Shortage. By 1915 there were 2.5 million soldiers who had volunteered for the army, these men had left old jobs behind which needed to be filled, but also they needed supplies, and more and more women were needed to supply the growing need for them. Conditions in the factories were quite poor, working with explosives and dangerous machinery with only basic protection, many women became ill from working with the explosive chemicals, which in some cases turned their skins yellow and made some unable to have children. And yet hundreds of thousands of women continued to get these jobs and work in these munitions factories as the pay was much greater than other jobs: £3 per week, was much greater than the wages they received working as domestic servants, this attracted women as it gave them a new flexibility with the money they never had before. Women were earning much more money, although still not as much as men.

As the war progressed the importance of women in the workplace became very obvious, especially when conscription came into effect, more and more men were being taken away and more women had to begin working to take their place. Women quickly began working in different professions, including brick makers, carpenters and electricians. Car and aeroplane manufacture was another profession that many women began to work in. In 1917 the first woman diplomat was appointed by the British government.

Women were also enjoying working more, more and more women wanted to start working and show independence from men and gain some equality to men as they believed they were able to do anything a man can do. To the extent of organising a ‘Right to Work’ march 1915, in which over 30,000 women marched to London to demonstrate for the right to work, this showed people just how serious they were about wanting to work, and may have made people pay more attention to them.

The amount of women had grown rapidly, this was mainly due to the need for the women to work to fuel Britain during the war, and due to the women’s own want to work to gain independence.

In what ways did the first world war change the employment opportunities of women in Britain?

The first world war had an effect on the opportunities of women in employment, since Britain was able to see women in the workplace for the first time when the men were unable to work due to fighting in the war and the country was in a severe shortage of labour, it gave women a chance to show how useful and productive they can be and also how eager they are to work.

Before the First World War, up to 1914, women in Britain did not have very good employment opportunities, most women only received a basic education, with very few going on to receive secondary education and having a chance at earning a good job. This lack of education forced any women who wished to work into poor paying jobs such as domestic service or the textiles industry. These jobs usually were in very poor working conditions with long working times and poor wages, often only £5-10 per year and sometimes less. Very few women actually had jobs, a woman’s place was considered the home, caring for her husband and children, not at the workplace which was considered the man’s area.

Due to the war there were acts signed, among these was the Sex Disqualification Act of 1919, which makes discrimination against women illegal in most professions, although this act was not completely effective as many still believed women were not as good as men and that they should not be working, legally they had the same rights at work as men. The wages of women were also increased, before this a woman would be paid on third of a mans wage for doing the same job, however this could no longer happen and it gave women a decent wage for themselves.

Women were also able to do much more jobs than they were before the war, these include jobs such as carpenters, electricians, foresters and there became hundreds of women doctors and women soon became dominant in primary school education. A lot more women were working after the war, on more equal pay and in a wider range of jobs.

Although new jobs had opened up the conditions of which the women working in them had not improved much, especially for the women. Although the Sex Disqualification act made it illegal, women were still victim of discrimination in the workplace. The male employees did not like having the women around doing there jobs, and although better, the pay was not equal to that of a mans. Women were subject to much discrimination while employed; they were treated badly by the male employees, often playing practical jokes on the women and giving them confusing tasks to perform.

Women legally should have the same chance of promotion as men, although this was not true, women were much less likely to gain a promotion than the men.

By 1918 there was no more need for the munitions that the women had been producing, and because the men were back the women were no longer needed in work, and so a lot of women lost there jobs and were sent back to their homes.

Legally, the war made a huge difference to women’s employment opportunities in Britain, however put into practice, this was not true, the discrimination that existed before was still there and although women were able to get much the same jobs as men, they were still not equal. The employment opportunities of women because of the second world war had changed a lot in some ways but remained the same in many others.