A generation of men fighting for their country, left a large gap in the British workforce and economy. Over a million British women stepped up to the challenge and took the chance to support their country by signing up for work in munitions factories, TNT manufacturing, or a civil service post.
Hunslet Engine Co , Stuart Turner and Co and William Beardmore and Co were a few out of hundreds of companies listed on Grace’s Guide, that took on women workers during the Great War, to relieve manufacturing and production demands.
The article includes a gallery of photographs showing ‘Girl Workers in a William Beardmore and Co Munitions Factory’ from The Engineer journal September 3rd 1915. Read more in the editorial titled “The Employment of Women in Engineering Workshops” – September 03rd 1915, p 228.
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The sudden change in the woman’s role from a gentle domestic post in the home to occupations in the loud, dirty and often dangerous factories and workplaces, stirred a mixture of worry and sense of caution with some , but with others, high spirits and positivity with a focus on winning the war. The founding of The Women’s Engineering Society in 1919 is just one example of an outcome founded from the effects of war and perhaps started to demonstrate the relaxing attitudes towards women’s capabilities in a male dominant industry.
http://blog.gracesguide.co.uk/?p=115 .
