To commemorate the part women played in the ‘Great War’, we bring you images and footage from the Bridgeman archive.
Woman working in an arms factory, c.1916 by Jacques Moreau, Archives Larousse, Paris
Women at their workplaces
Before the outbreak of WWI, the role of women mainly involved looking after their households and fulfilling domestic chores. With their husbands leaving for the front, many new job opportunities arose. Women started to work as military caregivers, nurses or took over positions in ammunition factories as munitions were needed in vast supplies for warfare. Life would never be the same again.
Photographers such as Jacques Moreau (b.1887) recorded women working as city street sweepers or dressed for duty as tram drivers and postal workers.
Left: Woman driving a tram in Toulouse during WWI / Bibliotheque Nationale / Archives Charmet
Right: City street female sweeper, Paris, 1915, Jacques Moreau (b.1887) / Archives Larousse, Paris, France / Giraudon
Propaganda
In Great Britain alone, five million women were working by 1918. Many of them were recruited into industrial positions. Propaganda posters produced by organisations all over the world encouraged women to work hard during these dire times.
Left: Poster depicting women making munitions, English School / Private Collection / Peter Newark Military Pictures
Right: Women are working day & night to win the War, English School / Private Collection / The Stapleton Collection
Footage
Bridgeman also holds footage of women in World War I, including a montage on the production of WW1 weaponry and ammunition, female factory workers during the First World War and the inspection of the Woman Reserve Ambulance by Queen Mary and Princess Mary in 1918.
Left: Women in the factories of Germany during World War I /
Right: Female factory workers of the Great War / Buff Film & Video Library
Find out more
View all images and footage material of women’s roles during the ‘Great War’ on the Bridgeman website.
All images in this article are sourced from www.bridgemanimages.com. Contact the Bridgeman sales team (uksales@bridgemanimages.com) for more information regarding licensing, reproduction and copyright issues.