Women: Phase 5 The impact of WWI Flashcards
What does RAMC stand for?
Royal Army Medical Corps
What did the RAMC do during WWI?
The Royal Army Medical Corps was the section the army that dealt with injured soldiers and organised nursing. The high numbers of casualties meant they needed even more additional help
What did QAIMNS stand for?
Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service
What did the QAIMNS do during WWI?
The main group of trained army nurses
Was founded in 1902 at the time of the Boer War and in 1914 was less than 300 strong
At the end of the war in 1918, there were 10,000 nurses
What does FANY stand for?
First Aid Nursing Yeomanry
What did FANY do during the war?
- Launched in 1907
- The idea was that the FANY would be the first aid specialists and also have the skills needed to go onto battlefields themselves
- The wartime FANY gazettes made note of the appalling conditions
- One describes how, in May 1915, they doused their sanitary towels in eau de cologne and held them over the faces of British soldiers during a chlorine gas attack
What did volunteer nurses do?
Many volunteers were from aristocratic families and their servants. Usually powerful women who ran large families and large estates had management experience so could manage hospitals easily.
The most famous of these was the Duchess of Sunderland, nicknamed Meddlesome Millie.
Later, nurses worked at casualty clearing stations. Some drove ambulances and this was the closest they could get to the front line.
Many worked 14 hour days and the soldiers liked having women around because they reminded them of wives, mothers and sisters.
Women doctors in 1914-15
- Women doctors were not welcomed on the Western Front
- Dr Elsie Inglis offered to take women’s medical units to the Front but was told that ‘hysterical’ women were the last thing needed there
Women’s Hospital Corps
Dr Louisa Garrett and Dr Flora Murray founded the Women’s Hospital Corps
Had to open military hospitals in Paris and Boulogne before they were given permission for one in London
Mabel Stobart founded a hospital staffed only by women
What did women do on the Front Line?
Women doctors were not allowed on the Front but were posted to quieter locations
Members of several independent women’s groups performed as surgeons in the war zone
In 1916,the army asked for medical women to work with the RAMC in Malta and by the end of the war there were 80 woman doctors working there
What did women do on the Home Front?
Over half of the doctors of Britain entered the army so women needed to replace them.
Louisa Garrett Anderson and Floray Murray were in charge of a military hospital in London which included 15 women doctors
A shortage of trained staff meant medical colleges did admit more women.
The London School of Medicine for Women became the largest medical school in the country. It is believed that there were 610 qualified women doctors in 1911 and 1500 in 1921
What were the limitations to change and progress?
- Many experiences were temporary and women were expected to go back to a domestic role at the end of the war
- 20% of women doctors carried out hospital work but found it difficult to find positions after the war
- There was still little opportunity for women to work in big hospitals and develop specialist skills
By 1931, approximately 10% of the 30,000 doctors were women but found it difficult to find work
After the war, women medical students were rejected and discouraged from applying to university
Women doctors still were dismissed from hospital work when they got married and were paid less than male doctors.
