Censorship in Britain and Germany during World War 1 involved monitoring personal correspondence and controlling news. In Britain, censorship of newspapers increased and mail was opened or delayed. In Germany, censorship was even stricter, with newspapers and letters subject to review by government censors. While censorship aimed to control the spread of information that could undermine the war effort, it raised concerns about restricting civil liberties.

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Or Google Recruitment, conscription, censorship and propaganda - HSC He

3. BEFORE THE
WARIn terms of jobs, life prospects and
independence, women were very
limited prior to 1914
Middle and upper class women
were seen as ‘fragile ornaments’ to
be looked after until marriage, then
were rewarded with a figurehead
role overseeing their homes
Working-class women often worked
prior to the war, mostly in factories
or service positions. They could
train to become teachers or nurses.
Pay was often minimal

4. BEFORE THE
WARWomen did not have the right to vote,
but early women’s rights campaigners
known as “suffragettes” were starting
to agitate for voting rights at the turn of
the century
Leaders like the Pankhurst family led
women in large-scale protest
campaigns in cities, using violence
and civil disobedience to make their
voices heard. Protestors were often
met with like violence from police sent
to calm the disturbance. When the war
began, the Suffragettes largely put
their campaign on hold to focus on the
war effort.

5. Not all English women supported
the war effort or agreed with the
Suffragette’s decision to suspend
political activities for the duration
of the war
For example, the Women’s
Freedom League continued their
political activities after 1914.

6. THE WAR
BEGINSIn the early years of war, there was a
reluctance to put women in uniform and
send them to the Front
When doctor Elsie Inglis offered her
services in 1914, she was told to “go
home and sit still”
Later, as the enlistment crisis worsened,
she led a medical team in Serbia.
Eventually, the enlistment crisis forced
the British government to establish
female-only branches of the armed
forces – the Voluntary Aid Detachment
(VAD), the Women’s Auxiliary Army
Corps (WAAC) from 1917, the Women’s
Royal Naval Force (WRENS) and the
Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) later
on.

7. THE WAAC
Women in the WAAC were
clerks, telephonists, waitresses,
cooks and drivers
They did not have full military
status - they were not enlisted;
they were not tried in military
courts; they were called ‘officials’
and not given ranks

8. WOMEN ON THE
HOME FRONTIn the early years of the war,
employers were reluctant to give
jobs originally held by men over to
women
There was an expectation that the
war would be over quickly and men
would return to their former
professions
Thus, women were recruited into
jobs like typists, cooks or volunteer
nurses
Gradually, as the war went on,
women were given jobs in transport,
law enforcement and munitions
factories

10. DURING THE
WAR
The number of women employed
in Britain overall rose
dramatically, with an extra 1.6
million women employed
between 1914 and 1918
The earliest women workers
were volunteers - free buffets at
railway stations, tea party
fundraisers, knitting, making
bandages, etc.

11. MUNITIONS
Munitions became the largest
employer for women in Britain
In 1914 the industry employed
212 000 women, and this number
grew to 950 000 by 1918
Some moved away from home to
work, often to purpose-built towns
for the factories, such as Gretna
in Scotland
Typical shifts lasted from 7am to
7pm and the work was strenuous,
but the pay was good - 2-3 times
that of the domestic services

12. MUNITIONS
Munitions work, however, posed a
threat to the health of women
Over the course of the war about
200 munitionettes were killed
The TNT used in the factories could
cause toxic jaundice, a condition that
turned the skin yellow
As a result, these women were
called “canaries”
In the worst cases, toxic jaundice
could make the limbs fill with fluid and
they would have to be cut and
drained, or the condition could result
in death.

13. NURSES
Nursing was the most acceptable form
of war work
The Red Cross had volunteer groups
called the Voluntary Aid Detachments
(VAD) - by 1918 over 90 000 of them
They worked in temporary hospitals
across Britain
The nursing branch of the British Army
was called Queen Alexandra’s
Imperial Military Nursing Service
They served at the Front and in British
military hospitals at home

14. WOMEN’S LAND
ARMYAs food shortages became more
acute, women replaced men
working in agriculture
By 1918 the Women’s Land
Army numbered over 16 000
This was not a popular job -
farmers often resented female
workers, the pay was low and
accommodation poor in rural
towns

15. OTHER JOBS
Women also worked as
blacksmiths, gravediggers,
ambulance drivers, on trains, in
offices and banks
Some things remained off limits
to women - train driving, the steel
industry, shipbuilding, accounting
and architecture

16. TRADE UNIONS
Trade unions did not love women
workers - they felt that employing
unskilled women would devalue the
work of skilled workers
They believed that women should
be paid less than men but also
believed women should give up
their jobs for men once the war was
over
Some women did unioninise and
strike for better pay - Mary
Macarthur, the British union leader,
played a key role in getting women
access to 383 trade unions and
establishing 36 women-only unions

17. OUTCOMES -
POLITICALAfter abandoning their campaign for
suffrage rights during the war, the
Suffragettes recommenced it in
1918.
The contribution of British women to
the war effort was recognised by
the government, who agreed to
extend voting rights to women over
30 in 1917
This was still a contentious issue –
many men resented the decision
and many women saw it as
tokenistic
(pic is Christabel Pankhurst voting)

18. OUTCOMES -
SOCIALFor many women, the years of work and
service during the war led to increased
self-confidence in peacetime, as they had
moved away from their families and
commenced an independent life of
employment
For many women, the war meant
increased wages, new employment
opportunities, more respect and
education - but mainly middle-class
women
The 1920s saw women wearing shorter
skirts, smoking, drinking, becoming more
sexually open and abandoning traditional
notions of femininity, much of which can
be attributed to women asserting their
freedom during the war.

19. OUTCOMES -
ECONOMICHowever for many women, this was short-
lived
Many women were forced out of their jobs
and back into domestic services when the
soldiers started to return
For many women this was voluntary, but
others were asked to vacate their positions
for the sake of veterans
As a result, there were less British women
employed after the war than there were
before
There was also a prevailing feeling amongst
British men that they needed to protect their
jobs from women
While political changes had occurred, these
were not always reflected on a grassroots
level