During World War I, large numbers of women were recruited into jobs vacated by men who had gone to fight in the war. New jobs were also created as part of the war effort, for example in munitions factories.
The high demand for weapons resulted in the munitions factories becoming the largest single employer of women during 1918. Though there was initial resistance to hiring women for what was seen as ‘men’s work’, the introduction of conscription in 1916 made the need for women workers urgent. Around this time, the government began coordinating the employment of women through campaigns and recruitment drives.
Here's a collection from UBC Library Digital Collections consists of vintage photographs of British women at work during World War I.
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General view of brass fittings shop |
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Women inspecting motor engine parts |
Women loading nitrate of soda into a skip |
Women straightening and bending steel girder |
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Women painting steel work |
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Women operating radial drilling machines, drilling holes in girders |
Women copper banding t60 pdr shrapnel |
Women taping planes |
Women in charge of electric motor |
View of canteen at munitions factory |
Women wheeling away earth excavated for the installation of hydraulic pumps |
Woman driving O.E.T. crane |
Women operating radial drills, drilling valve covers and strainer plates for weed boxes for marine engines |
Women stacking wood |
Women painting War Office vehicles |
Women cleaning windows |
Woman acting as helper at punching and shearing machine |
Women transporting rough castings to the General Store |
Women engaged in labouring work in dressing shop |
Woman are with cores for ingot mould |
Woman at battery drills, drilling angles and T bars for ribs of airship sheds |
Woman operating vertical drilling machines, drilling angles for connections to ribs of airship sheds |
Women operating circular saw, cutting steel bar |
Woman operating a Sunderland gear planer, gear cutting |
Woman driving 20 ton O.E.T. crane |
Women inserting and packing tubes in condensors for marine engines |
Women machining Admiralty electrical fittings |
General view of women engaged on small parts for boilers and condensors |
Workers preparing for the construction of concrete ships |
Railway workers cleaning carriages |
Railway workers unloading goods from train |
Women railway workers painting and decorating |
Mine net workers wiring the floats together |
W.R.N.S. fitting a mine |
Women testing a mine with air presssure |
W.R.N.S. instructor at respirator and mask drill for military recruits |
Railway worker pulling signal box levers |
Window cleaners |
Girl operating stitching machine in Leicestershire boot factory |
British women moulding and finishing stoneware taps at terra cotta works in Leicestershire |
British woman winding cotton from spools on to rollers at lace factory in Nottingham |
British women working in lace factory in Nottingham |
British women working in tannery in Nottingham |
British women in Nottingham tannery drawing skins from the lime pit |
British women cleaning locomotive in Midlands |
British women in glass factory cutting shop near Birmingham |
British women in glass factory near Birmingham |
British women painting planes at aeroplane factory near Birmingham |
British woman splicing airplane joints in aeroplane factory near Birmingham |
British women aeroplane workers near Birmingham welding frame tugs for planes |
British women working in chemical laboratory near Manchester |
Chemical works near Manchester - British women chemical workers in the Midlands |
British women chemical workers in the Midlands taking limestone from stock, loading and wheeling barrows of lime to wagons |
British rubber workers in Lancashire spreading machine for coaling canvas for tire making |
British women rubber workers in Lancashire fixing studded tires |
British women asbestos workers in factory in Lancashire |
British women oil workers in Lancashire moulding cakes |
British women rubber workers in Lancashire making mouth-pieces for gas masks |
British women rubber workers in Lancashire forming the foundation for the tread |
British women millers in Lancashire packing flour |
British women millers in Lancashire filling sacks with Government Flour |
British women Glass Workers |
British Women Glass Workers in a factory in Lancashire - Plaster house workers |
With the British Navy in wartime - Working a machine to extract the metal from the rubbish |
The Royal tour in the North Eastern Countries - The King chatting to some of the munitions girls |
Mechanic |
(via UBC Library Digitization Centre)