197:
19:
271:
suggestions were made as to what women doing "men's" work should be paid. An amendment in
January 1916 stated that the Minister of Munitions had the power to give directions as to the rate of wages of female workers, and introduced compulsory arbitration for disagreements between women workers and their employers. In the August 1917 Act, the certificate regulations preventing women from leaving factories without their employers' permission to earn higher wages elsewhere were repealed. Munitions workers presented an unusual case in the history of equal employment. The Ministry of Munitions approach to the principle "equal pay for equal work" was that:
259:
281:
the work. However, munitions factories were in the position of having mostly women workers, but still enough men and recent memories of their wages against which to benchmark. Moreover, the
Ministry of Munitions had pledged not to devalue men's work by paying lower rates whilst they were temporarily away at war in the 1915 Act. Men's unions had an interest in holding the Ministry to its promise, and unions that represented women campaigned for equality. Unions demanded "equal pay
309:, appointed a committee of enquiry. A report was published in June 1916, which concluded that "the majority of working women are making good use of their incomes" and "were doing well by their children, their homes, and their absent husbands". A suggested remedy was to have shorter opening hours for public-houses, women police, regulation of night working and regulation of the hours worked by girls under 18.
364:
actual practice which has been followed when so much in the making, and when so much control is vested in the organisation of the
Ministry of Munitions... Now is the time during the Great War for us to perceive, discover and proclaim the principles which should regulate, for perhaps the lifetime of a whole generation and perhaps for longer, the lines of advance on which women's industrial work should proceed.
188:. Exposure to chemicals was also a serious health risk for the munitionettes. Prolonged exposure to chemicals such as TNT can cause severe harm to the immune system. People exposed to TNT can experience liver failure, anemia, and spleen enlargement, and TNT can affect women’s fertility. Some side effects commonly included breast and lower region enlargement.
251:. Rates of pay varied significantly at different factories and, until 1917, women were prevented from leaving one firm to move to another that would pay them better because they had to obtain a certificate from their previous employer stating that they had left with their employer's consent. Arbitration to enforce the
280:
In other words, employers chose not to employ women and pay them equally because they could employ men instead, or they employed so many women that men did not want the occupation and therefore there were no high men's wages to benchmark against, enabling employers to pay women relatively little for
337:
During the war, women's football was popular with munitionettes and the general public. The
Munitionettes' Cup was a famous competition in north east England in 1917–18 held between women's football teams from various munitions and other factories. Matches attracted thousands of spectators and the
293:
and work paid based on time, suggesting that it was acceptable to pay equally per piece produced, but that they assumed that a woman might accomplish less in the same amount of time than a man so were reluctant to provide equal pay for time work. Unions also demanded equal war advances and bonuses
270:
of July 1915 declared that the admission of 'semi-skilled or female labour shall not affect adversely the rates customarily paid for the job' or reduce the rates a man could be expected to pay. There was not an official statement as to what constituted "men's" work versus "women's" but in
October,
368:
The precedent set was that women could be paid less than men and that they should resume their domestic roles to make way for the men returning from the front line. In the 1922 official history of women in munitions work and their wages, the government justified this by claiming that whereas "the
355:
Because large numbers of women were employed in munitions work during the war, the conditions of their employment had an impact on women after the war ended. Thom notes that the history of women's work in munitions factories is 'influentially mythical in creating a story of women's work which has
363:
We are incomparably the greatest employers of women there has ever been in the world, we are the pioneers of women's employment in the industrial and even the military field. Whatever may be the future position which women's labour will take after the war, it will be enormously influenced by the
149:
Conditions varied from factory to factory. At Gretna, the staff was mostly women, who worked in 12-hour shifts and lived in huts with their beds shared with someone on the opposite shift to minimise accommodation costs. The Health of
Munitions Workers Committee reported that "women have accepted
294:
for women on men's work. This demand was refused by the
Ministry of Munitions on the principle that it would have been very expensive for the State and also that it would have been "unfair" to women working in new industries that men had not previously worked in and set expectations.
275:
Equality of pay for equal work is normally established by the fixing of new rates after the introduction of women, which are either so high as to make the continued employment of women at them uneconomical to the employer, or so low as to render the occupation unattractive to
329:
Activities such as social clubs, theatrical societies, bands and debating groups were formed in munitions factories, and piano music and singing were especially popular. Such activities were often formed by workers and encouraged by welfare supervisors looking to increase
121:
Some women entering munitions work did so seeking better pay and fewer working hours than were customary in domestic service, pubs and laundries. Employers in these industries complained about losing their staff to munitions factories. The national munitions factory in
76:
regulated wages, hours and employment conditions in munitions factories. It also forced the factories to admit more women as employees, because so many of the nation's men were engaged in fighting in the war and male labour was in short supply.
610:
342:, became famous. Some factories' managements appear to have considered their staff participating in football a "necessary evil" that contributed to productivity and discipline amongst women 'displaced from their traditional gender roles'.
157:
wrote "Surely, never before in modern history can women have lived a life so parallel to that of the regular army. The girls who take up this work sacrifice almost as much as the men who enlist...it is a barrack life."
288:
Employers and the
Ministry argued that "it was not considered that one woman was the equivalent of one man", and that women needed more supervision and required new amenities. They also argued for differences between
369:
man's wage is a "family" wage, the woman's is an "individual" wage" and by arguing that women did not unionise and fight for their rights and were therefore responsible for establishing the two standards.
196:
297:
At the end of the war, "out of work" payments were only given to women who could prove that they had worked before the war. Others were expected to return to their homes or to domestic service.
103:
notes that 90% of women who went into engineering trades entered domains not previously regarded as suitable for women, and most of these were employed in munitions works manufacturing
84:
has estimated that approximately one million women were working in munitions industries by mid 1918. She suggests that a greater number of women worked in munitions than in the
171:
845:
99:
suggests that many workers had previous experience of factory work, though few had made munitions. But the specific type of the work was considered different: historian
305:
In
Birmingham, there were accusations of drunkenness and poor morality caused by the perceived high wages. The Central Control Board, with the agreement of the
376:
showcased their capabilities, however, and has been credited with changing the way that women were regarded in society and adding considerable momentum to the
356:
emphasised women's secondary wage earning, vulnerability to male hostility and reliance upon government rather than their own organisations for improvement.'
321:
trained from 1914 were employed in munitions factories as supervisors to women workers. They were paid a weekly wage, whereas other volunteers were unpaid.
18:
583:
377:
212:
the women were working with ignited and injured or killed the workers. Explosions at
British munitions factories during World War I included the 1916
221:
118:' (BSA) increased from 3,500 to 13,000 and at Austin in Longbridge from 2,800 in 1914 to 20,000 in 1918, many of these extra workers were women.
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126:, which was the largest industrial site in the world at the time, recorded that 36% of its workers had previously been in domestic service.
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By June 1917, roughly 80% of the weaponry and ammunition used by the British army during World War I was being made by munitionettes.
89:
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rose by a third in the year to July 1915, leaving women munitions workers that were on minimum rates earning below the level of a
557:
1021:
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Smith, Angela (2008). "The girl behind the man behind the gun: women as carers in recruitment posters of the First World War".
53:'s munitions industry found itself having difficulty producing the amount of weapons and ammunition needed by the country's
258:
115:
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Munitions workers faced risk of explosion due to the nature of the materials they handled. On several occasions, the
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In November 1917, Churchill, who was the Minister of Munitions at the time, announced to women trade unionists that:
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Munitionettes worked with hazardous chemicals on a daily basis without adequate protection. Many women worked with
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was rededicated to the 1,513 women who died in the line of service during WWI, including the munitionettes.
465:"'A Revolution in the Workplace'? Women's Work in Munitions Factories and Technological Change 1914-1918"
306:
73:
639:(Vol. 21, No. 9 ed.). Winnipeg, Canada: Canadian Nurses’ Association. September 1925. p. 484.
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Women working as munitionettes at Kilnhurst Steelworks during the First World War as painted by
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Some large firms greatly increased their workforce during the war: the number of employees at
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Menus, Munitions and Keeping the Peace: The Home Front Diaries of Gabrielle West 1914 - 1917
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873:
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Women Workers and Technological Change in Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
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38:
23:
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Munitionettes machining shell cases in the New Gun Factory, Woolwich Arsenal, London
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220:, in which 73 people were killed and over 400 injured, and a 1918 explosion at the
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conditions of work which if continued must ultimately be disastrous to health".
135:
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Fighting Forces, Writing Women: Identity and Ideology in the First World War
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includes a group of munitionettes who recount their experiences of war work.
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used in the process turned worker's skin yellow, prompting the popular name
34:
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More than Munitions: Women, Work and the Engineering Industries, 1900-1950
704:
Official History of the Ministry of Munitions Volume V: Wages and Welfare
213:
104:
996:
Women and War: a Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present
243:
There were no standard rates of pay for women when the war began, and
331:
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Munitionettes: British women in munitions during the First World War
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was too slow to solve the problem of women munition workers' wages.
257:
195:
153:
In an article written in 1916 after a visit to HM Factory Gretna,
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A Lab of One's Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War
654:. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 48.
108:
947:
On her their lives depend: munitions workers in the Great War
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Women and World War I - Women in the Workforce: Temporary Men
428:
On Her Their Lives Depend: Munitions Workers in the Great War
130:
was a collective nickname given to women munition workers at
635:"Five Sisters Window: Unveiling by the Duchess of York".
611:"When corpses fell from the Nottinghamshire sky in WWI"
285:" specifically rather than "equal pay for equal work".
897:
Ferguson, Dr Harvie; Ouditt, Sharon (1 March 2004).
944:
425:
172:List of munition workers who died of TNT poisoning
467:. In Groot, Gertjan de; Schrover, Marlou (eds.).
204:listing female munitions workers that died in WWI
652:Women as veterans in interwar Britain and France
920:Storey, Neil; Housego, Molly (20 April 2010).
886:Airth-Kindree, Anne Victoria Margaret (1987).
821:Militarism, Sport, Europe: War Without Weapons
8:
846:"Canary Girls and the role of women in WWI"
529:"The Morals of Munitions Workers 1914-1918"
57:. In response to the crisis, known as the
922:"Munitionettes and the Women War Workers"
317:Ninety percent of the approximately 1000
222:National Shell Filling Factory, Chilwell
17:
560:. Spartacus Educational. Archived from
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61:, the British government passed the
899:"Working in the Munition Factories"
998:, Volume 1: ABC-CLIO, 2006. Print.
968:Journal of War and Culture Studies
951:. University of California Press.
943:Woollacott, Angela (20 May 1994).
769:Weston, Avalon (31 October 2016).
432:. University of California Press.
424:Woollacott, Angela (20 May 1994).
14:
224:, which killed over 130 workers.
216:in which 35 women died, the 1917
180:(TNT). Prolonged exposure to the
37:factories during the time of the
739:Wightman, Clare (30 July 2014).
818:Mangan, J. A. (2 August 2004).
609:Brown, Jonathan (3 July 2014).
33:were British women employed in
200:Oak panel from York Minster's
1:
1012:United Kingdom in World War I
92:or other such organisations.
1017:British women in World War I
926:Women in the First World War
372:Women's contribution to the
503:. Oxford University Press.
1038:
798:"Blyth Spartans Ladies FC"
165:
378:women's suffrage movement
338:leading players, such as
319:Women's Police Volunteers
63:Munitions of War Act 1915
850:The Royal British Legion
471:. Taylor & Francis.
86:Voluntary Aid Detachment
650:Fell, Alison S (2018).
588:Munitionettes 1914-1918
497:Fara, Patricia (2018).
301:Concerns about morality
1022:Industrial occupations
980:10.1386/jwcs.1.3.223_1
584:"Rebecca West Extract"
463:Thom, Deborah (1995).
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278:
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49:Early in the war, the
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307:Minister of Munitions
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261:
199:
116:Birmingham Small Arms
74:Ministry of Munitions
21:
268:Munitions of War Act
218:Silvertown explosion
59:Shell Crisis of 1915
389:Pat Barker's novel
384:Cultural references
229:Five Sisters window
202:Five Sisters window
928:. Bloomsbury USA.
796:Brennan, Patrick.
637:The Canadian Nurse
334:and productivity.
264:
206:
145:Working conditions
72:The newly created
28:
958:978-0-520-08502-2
935:978-0-7478-0752-0
912:978-0-203-35916-7
831:978-1-135-77317-5
782:978-1-4738-7088-8
775:. Pen and Sword.
752:978-1-317-87647-2
714:978-1-78149-407-3
590:. 19 January 2015
564:on 3 January 2013
510:978-0-19-879498-1
478:978-0-7484-0260-1
439:978-0-520-08502-2
351:Women in industry
325:Culture and sport
253:Fair Wages Clause
214:Barnbow explosion
132:HM Factory Gretna
90:Women's Land Army
82:Angela Woollacott
69:of the industry.
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186:canary girls
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155:Rebecca West
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101:Patrica Fara
97:Deborah Thom
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55:armed forces
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313:Supervisors
249:living wage
245:food prices
182:nitric acid
1006:Categories
568:15 January
400:References
374:war effort
340:Bella Raey
291:piece work
210:explosives
192:Explosions
95:Historian
80:Historian
67:regulation
988:143485956
35:munitions
620:19 June
105:cordite
45:History
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346:Legacy
332:morale
124:Gretna
88:, the
984:S2CID
532:(PDF)
239:Wages
953:ISBN
930:ISBN
907:ISBN
857:2018
826:ISBN
805:2014
777:ISBN
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709:ISBN
656:ISBN
622:2018
596:2021
570:2013
543:2021
505:ISBN
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276:men.
266:The
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107:and
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231:at
134:in
109:TNT
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