The British government
introduced conscription in 1938.
All men aged between 18 and 41 had to register with the government.
Government officials then decided whether they should go into the
army or do other war work. Most young men were recruited into the
armed forces. This created a severe labour shortage and on 18th December
1941, the National Service Act was passed
by Parliament. This legislation called up unmarried women aged between
twenty and thirty. Later this was extended to married women, although
pregnant women and mothers with young children were exempt from this
work.
One vital need was for
women to work in munitions factories. Other women were conscripted
to work in tank and aircraft factories, civil defence, nursing, transport
and other key occupations. This involved jobs such as driving trains
and operating anti-aircraft guns, that had been traditionally seen
as 'men's work'.
"I'm not here all day -
I have to go and do part-time housework"
Cartoon in a British magazine
in June 1943.
(1)
Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour, attempted
to persuade women to volunteer for war work. A report of his speech
was reported in the Manchester
Guardian on 10th March, 1941.
Making an urgent appeal to women to come forward for war work mainly
in shell-filling factories, Mr. Bevin said he did not want them to
wait for registration to take effect. He wanted a big response now,
especially by those who might not have been in employment before.
There was a tendency to hang back and wait for instructions. If he
could get the first 100,000 women to come forward in the next fortnight
it would be priceless.
"I have to tell the
women that I cannot offer them a delightful life, " said Mr.
Bevin. "They will have to suffer some inconveniences. But I want
them to come forward in the spirit of determination to help us through."
In districts where married
women had been in the habit of doing the work the Government had decided
to assist them so far as the minding of children was concerned. They
had arranged for the rapid expansion through local authorities of
day nurseries and they were asking local authorities to prepare immediately
a register of "minders".
The married woman would
pay only what she paid in pre-war days - about sixpence a day - and
the Government would pay an additional sixpence a day for looking
after the children.
(2)
Muriel
Simkin worked in a munitions factory in Dagenham during the Second
World War. She was interviewed about her experiences for the book,
Voices from the Past: The Blitz (1987).
We had to wait until the
second alarm before we were allowed to go to the shelter. The first
bell was a warning they were coming. The second was when they were
overhead. They did not want any time wasted. The planes might have
gone straight past and the factory would have stopped for nothing.
Sometimes the Germans would
drop their bombs before the second bell went. On one occasion a bomb
hit the factory before we were given permission to go to the shelter.
The paint department went up. I saw several people flying through
the air and I just ran home. I was suffering from shock. I was suspended
for six weeks without pay.
They would have been saved
if they had been allowed to go after the first alarm. It was a terrible
job but we had no option. We all had to do war work. We were risking
our lives in the same way as the soldiers were.
(3)
Stella
Hughes,
interviewed in June, 2001.
I joined the Voluntary
Nursing Service working from the Chingford post most evenings and
at weekends in order to do my bit, so to speak, in the war. Five days
a week I made soldiers uniforms working for Rego in Edmonton North
London and then nursed at Whipps Cross Hospital in East London travelling
there by bus. Along with my "indoor and outdoor" uniforms,
which I was given I was issued a tin hat (which I had to pay for)
but all this made me feel great.
(4)
East Grinstead Courier (11th May, 1945)
The women in East Grinstead played a very important part in the life
of the community. The Women's Voluntary Service was created at the
beginning of the war and gave invaluable help in first-aid and nursing.
Despite the fact that East Grinstead was not an industrial district
it took an important part in the war by the manufacture of munitions
and many women were engaged in the monotonous job for many years.
They also replaced men who had joined the Forces, as skilled technicians,
took part in the sale and delivery of food, postal work, railway work
and service on the buses and other occupations connected with the
war effort.
(5)
Kay
Ekevall lived in Edinburgh during the
Second World War. As a result of the National
Service Act she became a welder. She
wrote about her war experiences in Jonathan Croall's book, Don't
You Know There's A War On (1989)
Redpath's had never employed women before the war, as it was considered
heavy industry. Women took part in most of the jobs, such as crane-driving,
burning, buffing, painting, welding and such-like. I became a welder
when there were both men and women trainees, but the men were paid
more than the women. We had several battles over equal pay after we
were used on the same jobs as the men, many of whom were as new to
the skills as we were. By the end of my time we had managed to get
close to the men's wage, but we only got equality in the case of the
crane-drivers. On the whole the men didn't seem to resent the women,
and the skilled men were friendly and helpful to the trainees. As
it was an essential work industry, like the railways, I suppose they
weren't afraid for their jobs. I believe there was some resentment
in other factories at the dilution by cheap labour, and the unions
campaigned for equal pay. But in heavy industry like Redpath's, no
one thought women would be kept on after the war, so we were in a
less vulnerable position. Spot welding in the electrical factories
was the only kind of welding work that had been done by women up to
then.
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