ABSTRACT
During the First World War the substitution of women workers for men in industry was actively promoted by the State. Outwardly this appeared to be a vast change, which contrasted markedly with prewar policies. However, this did not mean that women workers doing ‘men’s jobs’ came to be treated interchangeably with men. There continued to be separate employment policies towards women throughout the war, whether they were employed in women’s work or men’s work. The recruitment of women into men’s jobs and the income maintenance policies of the State gave many women financial independence from men for the first time. However, in contrast to the claims made by some historians,3 it is argued here that such gains were deliberately made strictly temporary for most women; even though, as the quotations above suggest, while the war lasted women were led to believe otherwise.
