I am running so late today , I have not had time to write a post for International Women’s Day. I thought I would re-post an SoCs from November 2016. In that post I pad tribute to the women of WW1 and WW2 who took over all the jobs that the men who had been sent off to war left empty here in what was known then as Great Britain.
Not only did the women do these , sometimes very dangerous jobs,but they looked after the families and homes. Now I do not wish in any way to detract from the huge sacrifice of all the men who fought for our countries during the two wars .
First a poem.
Remember the women left back home.
They made the ammunition for Tommy
Dangerous work,they died too, it was not funny.
Women became officers of the law
Something never heard of before.
Nurses, drivers even pilots for planes
Remember them we will never know their names
Someone had to give the farmers a hand
Remember the men were at war in a foreign land.
The members of the ” fairer sex ”
Drove the buses, trains and lorries
Kept all essential job going, however complex
They also fed the family and kept the Home Fires Burning
And then a song.
During the wars WW1 and WW2 women filled in the gaps that the men who had been sent off to war left. It is not always remembered that they worked in the factories drove buses , trains and flew planes and probably sailed ships. They became members of the forces, nurses at home and on the war front too. They were also seconded into the police these jobs were almost unheard of for women before the first world war. They also had to do hard farm labour on the farms to help keep the food supplies going.
Women worked in shipyards, built planes and also made ammunition, hard and dangerous work.
It was not just the fact that the bombs , shells or landmines could explode if mishandled but the TNT was dangerous to the women’s health.
Also some Facts.
” Munitions workers whose job was filling shells were prone to suffer from TNT poisoning. TNT stood for Trinitrotoluene – an explosive which turned the skin yellow of those who regularly came into contact with it. The munitions workers who were affected by this were commonly known as ‘canaries’ due to their bright yellow appearance. Although the visible effects usually wore off, some women died from working with TNT, if they were exposed to it for a prolonged period. As Ethel Dean, who worked at Woolwich Arsenal, recalled, ‘Everything that that powder touches goes yellow. All the girls’ faces were yellow, all round their mouths. They had their own canteen, in which everything was yellow that they touched… Everything they touched went yellow – chairs, tables, everything.’ (IWM SR 9439) More imformation here
All images from Google Images women at war WW1 and WW2
My tribute to all women past present and future. We have always and always will pick up the slack , support men and do our best. Today there are women leading full services lives in all our armed forces and police.
willowdot21 