ABSTRACT
Between 1900 and 1950 women flocked into an industry of huge im portance to the society and economy of the twentieth century. They made the shells of the First World War and the weapons and telecommunications systems of the Second. They also m anufactured the light bulbs, refrigerators, televisions, radios, telephones, wind screen wipers and car ignition gear consumed for the first time this century. This new employment of women within engineering was part of a broader shift in wom en’s employment in general, away from traditional occupations and towards new areas of work in food processing, artificial fibres and m odem shops and offices. This chap ter places wom en’s growing im portance to the engineering industry within the changing pattern of wom en’s work more generally.
