Before 1914, 'women's work' – usually domestic service – was seen as inferior to 'men's work'. Women were expected to give up their jobs once they got married and revert to their 'natural' roles as wives and mothers.
The outbreak of the First World War changed all of that. As most of the able-bodied men were overseas fighting in the trenches, women took on traditional male roles in areas such as arms manufacture. Propaganda posters urged women to 'do their bit' for the war effort.
Some of interesting photos of women workers in England during World War I below will help us know more.
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| A woman munitions worker operates a machine that makes shell cases in an armaments factory during the First World War, ca. 1915 |
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| A British women's fire brigade takes the salute, March 1916 |
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| Members of the Women's Reserve Ambulance Corps, June 1916 |
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| Members of the Women's Police Service, ca. 1916 |
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| A woman drives a delivery van pulled by a pair of horses, August 1916 |
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| Female labourers push loaded wheel barrows on a construction site in Coventry, ca. 1917 |
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| Women work at Cross Farm in Shackleton, Surrey, April 1917 |
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| Women war workers pull a truckload of boxes on the Midland Railway in Somerton, Somerset, May 1917 |
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| Women workers at the Gas Light and Coke Company at Bromley By Bow, London, serve tea on top of a gasometer, June 1918 |
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| Women forestry workers have their lunch sitting on a pile of logs, May 1918 |