While thousands of men fighting in the armed services, British women have taken on a host of new roles since the First and Second World Wars.
Traditionally, several of these duties had been performed by men and were thought to be unsuitable to women as they were dirty or hard. Yet now, all around the country, women have been train cleaners, bus drivers, volunteer policemen; they have worked with toxic substances in factories, guided tractors to fields, and carried coal to barges.
Women’s service would prove crucial to the British wars effort during the Second World War; so much so that it quickly became mandatory (women had to do so by law). Early in 1941, Ernest Bevin, Labor Minister of State, announced that ‘one million women’ were ‘wanted for war service’. Later that year, in December 1941, after Congress approved the National Service Act; women started to be recruited for war service.
Those single women aged 20-30 (later applied to 19-43) either had to enlist in the army, serve in a factory, or work on the land with the Women’s Land Force.
Women in the Army
Females participated in the military during world war 2, like, for example:
- The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS)
The ATS was the female unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Females between 17 and 43 could enter; and even if they were barred from combat, they could take on other positions, such as chefs, shopkeepers, orderlies, drivers, and postal staff.
Early in the war, as there was a lack of men willing to work, women in the ATS became radar operators and members of the anti-aircraft gun crew.
- The Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS)
Around the outset of the fighting, the Royal Navy’s Women’s Arm was used as a means to allow men in non-combatant positions (like driving or cooking) to battle. ‘Today enter the Wrens and raise a man to enter the Navy,’ a recruiting flyer urged. Nicknamed ‘Wrens,’ these women tended to perform highly critical and diverse jobs; from code-breaking at Bletchley Park to controlling radar equipment.
- Women also served with a range of other services
-The Women’s Land Army and Women’s Timber Corps; as pilots and ground staff in the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA); in the Women’s Auxiliary Service, as volunteer policewomen, as military nurses or voluntary nurses (VADs) with the Voluntary Aid Detachment; and as agents with the Special Operations Executive (SOE)
Reference: https://www.mylearning.org/stories/women-at-war-the-role-of-women-during-ww2/478?
