History in the Making - A Livre Ouvert

Women in WWI


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How did women contribute to WWI?

WWI forced millions of men into fighting on different fronts and inadvertently left women to run factories, trams, trains, postal services, fields and farms. Every place they were once told they were too dainty, to delicate, too inadequate to even frequent was now up and running thanks to the weaker sex. The French socialist leader René Viviani made a passionate call, L'appel aux femmes françaises and called on French women to take on fill in for the men who had left for the fighting. Jobs that were once qualified as 'off limits' and 'not her place', by the French Republic.

In 1914, the German armament producer employed virtually no women, but by 1917 over 30% of their workforce were women. The hour of need turned the weaker sex into wonder women.

A staggering 80 % of all weapons and shells used during WWI were made by women. Corporates made huge profits because women worked for half the price of men. But what did women get in return?


Music coursey:commons wikimedia: souce https://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?nq=1&query_type=author&query=Tilley,+Vesta




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History in the Making - A Livre OuvertBy Avanti Victoire RAO