Those Women Who Wait

'Those Women Who Wait' is the companion to my first book, 'Women Are Now Doing Men's Work,' following the contributions of women to the British war effort in the First World War. The British home front played an important role in the outcome of the war which ultimately led to the signing of the Armistice in 1918, this was primarily a war of factories, and Britain was ill prepared on the outbreak of the war. Within two years, Britain had created massive industrial capacity for the production of arms and munitions, and a workforce of women to work in the factories. Here they were exposed to toxic chemicals and the dangers of highly volatile explosives. Women proved they were capable of doing jobs thought only applicable to men, they worked on Britain's farms, attended technical colleges to improve skills vital in the aero industry, rerolled as ambulance drivers, police women and in the Women's Royal Naval Service and Women's Royal Air Force. They advanced in the field of science working at Imperial College for the Trench Warfare Department.

In the First World War the civilian population of the British Isles were thrust into the front line, the women took their fair share of the sacrifice, and earned the respect of the men at the front. I leave the comment of Captain Henry Gilbert Knobbs of the London Rifle Brigade, blinded during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, who perhaps spoke for many men in the firing line. 'Fighting men acknowledge it! And when your ears are no longer deafened by the cheers of others, take off your caps, fill your lungs, and cheer to the echo the real heroes of the war. All honour to the woman who waits.'