The Role of the Fairer Sex

Two of the three main Suffragette organisations called a halt to their protests. The NUWSS suspended all political activities and the WSPU ended all militant activities. Only the WFL carried on with its work. One leading figure in the WSPU was so angered by the decision that she left Britain to campaign on behalf of American women

This still left a shortage of workers as nearly 5,000,000 men had gone to war. To make up for this, many women worked as volunteers and others moved from their traditional employment to more 'manly' work in order to fill the gap

Women worked in all of the above fields, but the greater number were employed in munitions factories. These supplied the front-line troops with clothing, food, weapons and explosives

There were other dangers in munitions work. On 1st July 1918 eight tons of TNT exploded at a munitions factory in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire. 134 people were killed in the blast and only 32 of the bodies could be identified. The 102 unidentified people were buried in a mass grave at St. Mary's Church in the nearby village of Attenborough

During the war the middle classes employed fewer servants in an attempt to save money. After the war less women were willing to work as servants now that they had experience of jobs with better pay and conditions. The domestic servant became all but extinct

Dorothy was suspected of being a spy. She was held prisoner in France and was not released until she signed an affidavit promising not to tell of her experiences. Only then was she sent back to England

Women were allowed to serve in the Serbian army and Flora reached the rank of Sergeant Major. In 1916 she was seriously injured by a hand grenade but she survived and was awarded the Order of the Karadorde's Star, the highest honour in the Serbian Army

The night before her execution Edith said to her chaplain, "Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." These words were inscribed on her statue which stands near Trafalgar Square in London

The move of women into traditionally masculine work had only been intended as a temporary measure. When men returned home many thousands of women lost their jobs. This was particularly hard as a good proportion of them had been widowed by the war. In addition, the husbands of others had been severely wounded and could not work, meaning that the women were now the breadwinners of their families

It was not until the 'Representation of the People Act' was passed by Parliament, 10 years later, that women were given equal voting rights to men and those aged 21 or more were allowed to take part in elections