Women in the First World War

History of women in warfare Ancient Medieval Early Modern 1750–1799 1800–1899 1900–1939 WWI WWII 1945–1999 2000–present

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.

Contents 1 Home front 2 Military 3 Notable individuals 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External Links

Home front

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

During the course of the war, 21,480 U.S. Army nurses (military nurses were all women then) served in military hospitals in the United States and overseas. Eighteen African-American Army nurses served stateside caring for German prisoners of war (POWs) and African-American soldiers; after the Armistice, Nov. 11, 1918, they entered the Army Nurse Corps and cared for POWs. They were assigned to Camp Grant, IL, and Camp Sherman, OH, and lived in segregated quarters while caring for German POWs and black soldiers. African-American women also served in WWI as U.S. Yeomen (F). Of the 12,000 U.S. Yeomen (F) who served from 1917-1921, 14 were black. ^[1]

The U.S. Army recruited and trained 233 female bilingual telephone operators to work at switchboards near the front in France and sent 50 skilled female stenographers to France to work with the Quartermaster Corps. The U.S. Navy enlisted 11,880 women as Yeomen (F) to serve stateside in shore billets and release sailors for sea duty. More than 1,476 U.S. Navy nurses served in military hospitals stateside and overseas. The U.S. Marine Corps enlisted 305 female Marine Reservists (F) to "free men to fight" by filling positions such as clerks and telephone operators on the home front. More than 400 U.S. military nurses died in the line of duty during World War I. The vast majority of these women died from a highly contagious form of influenza known as the "Spanish Flu," which swept through crowded military camps and hospitals and ports of embarkation. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

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. ^[5]

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.^[6]

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.^[7]
• 1915: French artist Madame Arno organized a regiment of Parisian women to fight the Germans.^[8]
• 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.^[8]
• 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.^[8]
• 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.
• 1917: In 1917 World War I Army nurses Edith Ayres and Helen Wood (nurses held no rank during World War I)became the first female members of the U.S. military killed in the line of duty. They were killed on May 20, 1917, while with Base Hospital #12 aboard the USS Mongolia en route to France. The ship’s crew fired the deck guns during a practice drill, and one of the guns exploded, spewing shell fragments across the deck and killing Nurse Ayres and her friend Nurse Helen Wood. ^[9]
• 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.^[10]
• 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.
• 1918: Twin sisters Genevieve and Lucille Baker of the Naval Coastal Defense Reserve became the first uniformed women to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard. ^{[11] [12] [13]}

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)

References

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 located in the Special Collections and University Archives Department at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• Textiles and Artifacts from Women in World War 1 located in the Special Collections and University Archives Department at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro