On her their lives depend: munitions workers in the Great War

520 Pages·1994·2.28 MB·English

by  Angela Woollacott

On Her Their Lives Depend : Munitions
title:
Workers in the Great War
author: Woollacott, Angela.
publisher: University of California Press
isbn10 | asin: 0520085027
print isbn13: 9780520085022
ebook isbn13: 9780585079479
language: English
World War, 1914-1918--Women--Great
subject Britain, Weapons industry--Great Britain--
Employees.
publication date: 1994
lcc: D639.W7W66 1994eb
ddc: 940.3/41/082
World War, 1914-1918--Women--Great
subject: Britain, Weapons industry--Great Britain--
Employees.
Page iii
On Her Their Lives Depend
Munitions Workers in the Great War
Angela Woollacott
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley · Los Angeles · London
Page iv
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 1994 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Woollacott, Angela, 1955
On her their lives depend: munitions workers in the Great
War / Angela Woollacott.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-520-08397-0 (alk. paper). ISBN 0-520-08502-7
(pbk.: alk. paper)
1. World War, 19141918WomenGreat Britain.
2. Weapom industryGreat BritainEmployees. I. Title.
D639.W7W66 1994 93-20667
940.3'41'082dc20. CIP
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Page v
For my parents,
whose love of reading history
was my first inspiration
Page vii
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
1. The Army of Women: 17
Munitions Factories and Women Workers
2. The Heterogeneity of Women Workers: 37
Mixing and Mobility
3. "Industrial Work Is Good for Women": 59
Health, Welfare, Deaths, and Injuries
4. Status and Experience as Workers 89
5. "High Wages and Premature Liberty": 113
Wages, Autonomy, and Public Censure
6. Off the Job: Leisure, Socializing, and Sex 134
7. Class Relations among Women 162
8. "On Her Their Lives Depend": 188
Gender, War, and Women Munitions Workers
Bibliography 217
Index 235
Page ix
Illustrations
Following page 112
1. Cover of The War-Worker, June 1917.
2. Women operating cranes in a shell-filling factory, Chilwell,
Nottingham.
3. "These women are doing their bit." World War I poster used
to recruit women into munitions work.
4. Women workers on the canteen steps of an airplane factory
in Birmingham, 1918.
5. Advertisement for Oatine Face Cream, 1918.
6. Firewoman bringing out a woman worker overcome by
smokefumes.
7. Palmers Munitionettes, football team from Palmers
Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., Hepburn-on-Tyne.
8. Performance by the Purple Poms, members of the King's
Norton Club for Women Munition Workers, at Abbey Wood,
ca. 1917.
9. Scene at a girls' club. Cartoon from Punch, 1918.
10. Canteen superintendent demobilized. Cartoon from
Punch, 1919.
11. Lady Maud and the taxi driver. Cartoon from Punch,
1918.
12. "Food for the guns." Postcard issued for the war bond
campaign by the National War Savings Committee.
Page xi
Tables
1. Number of Females Employed in Different Industries, 25
191418
2. Breakdown of Women Munitions Workers by Area of 31
Work
3. Births per 1,000 of Total Population, 191320 147
4. Marriages per 1,000 of Total Population, 191320 154