Women and Munitions In the First World War (1914-1918) women had, for the first time, volunteered for jobs as servicewomen, drivers, farm-workers, shipyard-workers, and munitions workers. The women who worked in factories that produced the shells, bombs, mines, grenades and ammunition needed by the British Army endured difficult and often dangerous conditions, but they were determined to make a real contribution to the war effort. Look carefully at the poster from 1915, encouraging women to become workers in the Munitions factories. All advertising has a powerful effect on us. Write down what sort of message you think that this poster was trying to show? Did you know. That the word Munitions comes from shortening the word ammunition? Discuss: Why do you think that a picture like this wasn t used to recruit women? 1
By 1938 it became clear that Great Britain was going to be involved in another war in Europe, the Second World War (1939-1945). Once again women would be required to work in heavy industry, including Munitions. Once again look at the advertising poster. Write down what sort of message you think this was trying to send. Then compare your findings with your work on the poster from World War One. What do you think might have caused the differences? 2
New munitions factories were needed which would address some of the problems that had been identified in the munition works of World War 1 Here are some of the difficulties and challenges that the British Government needed to address when building new Royal Ordnance Factories, as they were to be known. Working with a friend, look at the following descriptions, decide what the problems might be and then identify what the Government would have to do to solve the problems for the women. The Problems - Shifts were 12 hours long, 7 days a week. - TNT ( the explosive) when breathed in caused fainting and sometimes epileptic fits. The shell cases, weighing 35lbs empty had to be hauled about by hand. - The chemicals caused the women s skin and hair to turn yellow; jokingly they were called canaries. - Particles of some substances burnt through the overalls. - Factory locations were very close to cities. - German Zeppelin airships threatened air-raids. - An explosion in one part of the factory could very quickly spread to another. Memories of Munitions Workers in 1941 I had to get up at 4 to catch the train for 5. I remember the first time I saw the factory, well I couldn t see it because it was covered in mist. That s why it was built there: the damp makes the explosives less dangerous. There must have been thousands of us there, well there wasn t any other employment in the area and we were glad of the opportunity to make a few pounds. You had to go with the detonators when they were moved from one workshop to another on a cart, with one of you walking in front with a red flag and one behind. You must never do it when there was thunder and lightning. The buildings, as far as I could make out were all single-storeys with walkways in between. These were called cleanways and my job was to keep them scrubbed clean. They told me that even a bit of dirt could cause an explosion. Someone was careless one day going into one of the workshops and there was a spark and eight were killed. 3
Look at the two pictures below and then at the paragraph below. Using the pictures try to put the sentences in the correct order. We looked like ghosts the cream was so thick especially when we used the lip-cream which was bright red. I always covered my hair, but it still went an orange colour. Sometimes in the winter I left my pyjamas on underneath because it was so cold but we weren t allowed to have any heating. Then you stepped over the barrier onto what they called the Clean side. The buttons were all rubber, and our shoes had no nails in them. The side that you went in on when you arrived at work was called the Dirty side. You weren t allowed any jewellery, or hairgrips so you had to put them into your kitbag. And there was your uniform: trousers, jacket and a sort of turban. There was a barrier across. If you had a wedding ring, it had to be covered with tape, no metal at all was allowed. We put vanishing cream on our faces and special cream for our hands. You took all your clothes and shoes off and your jewellery. They were creamy coloured, like wool flannel and dipped in something to fireproof them. 4
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