Women and WWI

Women and WWI

Posted by Deco London on

To mark the centenary of the end of WWI in November 2018, Deco Diaries took a look at Women's role in the War effort.  
With most able-bodied men overseas fighting in the trenches, propaganda posters urged women to 'do their bit' for the war effort and take on work that would normally have been done by men.

Women were encouraged to serve as nurses in hospitals and in relief organisations such as the Red Cross. The Women's Land Army was formed to boost agricultural production, while farm labourers were away fighting.


Between 1914 and 1918, more than a million women were added to the workforce in Britain, at least 600,000 of these in industry. Women were recruited under strict conditions that they did not actually replace the men, they were expected to return to their traditional roles in the home, after the war had ended.



Many women, often from lower class families, were recruited into munition factories making gun shells, explosives, aircraft and other materials that supplied the war.  Working conditions were dangerous, with daily exposure to toxic chemicals and explosives.  



WWI US Propaganda Poster 

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