Employment Flashcards
What was the most common job for women at the start of the century?
Domestic service
Who did most girls end up marrying and what happened?
A boy from Wales, and they moved back home
What did domestic servants receive?
Bed, board and uniform
What time did a domestic servants day start and finish?
6.30am to 10.30pm
What tasks did domestic servants do?
Clean fireplaces, make beds, mend clothes, being hot water to the family in their rooms
What was the best job a domestic servant could be promoted to and what did it involve?
A ladies maid- helped the lady of the house get dressed and do her hair
What would happen after domestic servants married?
They would give up their job and move back home
How many days off did domestic servants have?
1 evening a week, half day on Sunday
Where did most Welsh girls go after finishing school at the start of the century?
To England to work in manor houses as domestic servants
Where was the textile trade common?
Yorkshire and Lancashire
What was the main job of a woman working in the textiles trade?
Spin and weave cloth using machinery
What were conditions like in textile factories?
Very poor, dirty and I’ll ventilated, insufficiently heated
What shifts did 14 year old girls often work in textile factories?
12 hours
How many women were in paid employment in 1918 compared to pre 1914?
1918- 6.19 million
1914- 4 million
What jobs did women do during WW1?
Voluntary work: Red Cross
Men’s jobs: Van drivers
What happened in 1916?
Conscription
What was dilution?
The government’s agreement with trade unions that women could do jobs usually done by men for the period of the war
What were women who worked in munitions, during WW1, known as?
Munitionettes
Why were Munitionettes often called canaries?
Exposure to TNT turned their skin yellow
What was the job of Munitionettes?
To produce shells
Why did working in munitions change the social lives of women?
The became a very close group of friends and would go out together etc
What roles did women play in the uniformed services during WW1?
Women’s Royal Air Force
Women’s Royal Naval Service
Why were women in the Air Force known as penguins during WW1?
They couldn’t fly
How many women were in the Women’s Royal Naval Service in 1917?
3000
How many women were in the Women’s Royal Air Force in 1918?
32,000
When was the Land Army created?
1915
What did women in the Land Army do?
Picked potatoes, tended animals, collect harvest, ploughed land and felled timber
Why did WW2 disrupt women’s lives?
Children evacuated
Rationing affected shopping and cooking
When was the WW2 conscription?
1941
What did the conscription of 1941 mean?
Unmarried women aged 20-30 had to work
When was the conscription of 1941 extended and what did it mean?
1943- Extended to married women aged 18-50
Where did women work during the Second World War?
Weapons factories
Armed services
Land
What allowed mothers to work during WW2?
Nurseries set up
What did women produce in munitions factories during WW2?
Guns, aircraft, tanks and munitions
How long were typical shifts in munitions factories during WW2?
10 hours
How many women worked in the armed services during WW2?
475,000
What was the ATS?
Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Services
What was the WRENS?
Women’s Naval Service
What was the WAAF?
Women’s Auxiliary Air Force
What jobs did women do in the armed services during WW2?
Drove service vehicles, flew warplanes between bases staffed anti-aircraft guns
