Women's Contribution to the War Effort in the Years 1914-18

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Women's Contribution to the War Effort in the Years 1914-18 Source F is a poster produced by the government, The purpose is to encourage women to join the war effort. It was produced in 1916, when morale was at its lowest in Britain. At the beginning of the war, Britain has a professional army, however by 1916 conscription was introduced and anyone over 18 had to join the army. ] Therefore, women were needed to replace the men. The woman in the poster looks strong, proud and focused and catch your attention immediately, she is pinning her hair up, getting ready for work or unpinning it having just finished. She looks healthy and happy and maintains her dignity as she is still wearing a dress. The wording on the poster is very strong: “Enrol at once” in bold white writing, which sticks out from the dark background. It is as if the government is commanding women to work- something they have never been asked to do before. At the time very few women were working as replacements in men’s jobs and women were treated as second class citizens. This poster shows that the government was forced to ask for help from the women, they realised that without the women, the war would fall apart. Many suffragettes were more than happy to help after Emiline Pankhurst stated: “ What good is having the vote without a country to vote in?”. The source is limited in its utility for a number of reasons. It does not give us a female perspective on the issue, it does not tell us about the conditions or hours of work and it does not show the male attitude, only that of the governments. The poster only tells us about one form of work offered to women at the time and how many were actually doing it, its opinions are limited because it’s a picture so is only a snapshot of one moment in history. It does not tell us about women working before or after this period. However, it is also useful because it shows a change in attitude of

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