Women in World War I

German women in 1917, working as assistants to the war effort

As one of the first total wars, World War I mobilized women in unprecedented numbers on all sides. The vast majority of them were drafted into the civilian work force to replace dead or conscripted men. Many served in the military in support roles, e.g. as nurses, but some saw combat as well.

Home front

The winning Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps tug-o-war at the New Zealand Infantry and General Base Depot, Etaples, France, 3 August 1918

In 1914 Britain declared war on Germany and many men left their jobs to fight overseas. Women were called on, by necessity to do work and take on roles that were outside their gender expectations. Many women took on jobs that were traditionally classed as men’s work.

As well as paid employment, they were also expected to take on other unpaid, voluntary work such as knitting clothes and preparing hampers for soldiers on the front. This proved that women were capable of taking on work in the employment front and therefore forced the voting controversy that was later to come. Jobs they participated in included working in factories making ammunition that would be sent to the front and also farming the land to keep up food supplies.

During World War I, women had a big role to play. Coal was necessary in Britain, in homes, factories and offices and public buildings and women helped to mine this coal. This was a different scenario from World War II because most of Britain was then run by electricity. This was a dramatic change because women replaced men in power stations. Women replaced men in many factories, farms and other jobs as the men were at war with Germany and their allies. Coal was important for heating houses and for businesses. The women’s job was to pack up coal into sacks for distribution to where it was needed. Women were motivated to work for the good of the country.

Military

More than 12,000 women enlisted in the United States Navy and Marine Corps during the First World War. About 400 of them died in that war.

Over 2,800 women served with the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps during World War I, and it was during that era that the role of Canadian women in the military first extended beyond nursing. Women were given paramilitary training in small arms, drill, first aid and vehicle maintenance in case they were needed as home guards.

The only belligerent to deploy female combat troops in substantial numbers was the Russian Provisional Government in 1917. Its few "Women's Battalions" fought well, but failed to provide the propaganda value expected of them and were disbanded before the end of the year. In the later Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks would also employ women infantry.

Notable individuals

• 1914: Dorothy Lawrence disguised herself as a man in order to become an English soldier in the First World War.
• 1914 : Maria Bochkareva (Russian: Мария Леонтьевна Бочкарева, née Frolkova, nicknamed Yashka, was a Russian woman who fought in World War I and formed the Women's Battalion of Death.
• 1914 : Flora Sandes, an English woman, joined a St. John Ambulance unit in Serbia and subsequently became an officer in the Serbian army.
• 1915: French artist Madame Arno organized a regiment of Parisian women to fight the Germans.
• 1915: Olga Krasilnikov, a Russian woman, disguised herself as a man and fought in nineteen battles in Poland. She received the Cross of St. George.
• 1915: Russian woman Natalie Tychmini fought the Austrians at Opatow in World War I, while disguised as a man. She received the Cross of St. George.
• 1916: Ecaterina Teodoroiu was a Romanian heroine who fought and died in World War I.
• 1916: Milunka Savić, Serbian war hero,and the most decorated female fighter in the history of warfare, awarded with the French Légion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour) twice, Russian Cross of St. George, English medal of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael, Serbian Miloš Obilić medal. She is the sole female recipient of the French Croix de Guerre (War Cross) with the palm attribute.
• 1917: Loretta Perfectus Walsh became the first active-duty U.S. Navy woman, and the first woman to serve in any of the U.S. armed forces in a non-nurse occupation on enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve on March 17, 1917. Walsh subsequently became the first woman U.S. Navy petty officer when she was sworn in as Chief Yeoman on March 21, 1917.
• May 30, 1918: Frances Gulick was an US Y.M.C.A. welfare worker who was awarded a United States Army citation for valor and courage on the field during the aerial bombardment of Varmaise, Oise, France.
• August 13, 1918: Opha Mae Johnson became the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps as part of the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve.
• November 11, 1918: Lotta Svärd, a Finnish voluntary auxiliary organization for women, was formed.

See also

• Women's roles in the World Wars
• Hello Girls
• Women in the workforce
• Yeoman (F) (USA)
• United States Navy Nurse Corps (USA)
• Women's Land Army (UK)
• Woman's Land Army of America
• Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps (UK)
• Voluntary Aid Detachment (UK)

Further reading

• Ebbert, Jean and Marie-Beth Hall (2002). The First, the Few, the Forgotten: Navy and Marine Corps Women in World War I. Annapolis, MD: The Naval Institute Press. ISBN 155750203X.

External Links

• The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project