Ads
related to: women munitions workers ww2 flag patch- Clearance Sale
Enjoy Wholesale Prices
Find Everything You Need
- Our Top Picks
Team up, price down
Highly rated, low price
- Men's Clothing
Limited time offer
Hot selling items
- Where To Buy
Daily must-haves
Special for you
- Clearance Sale
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The Health of Munitions Workers Committee reported that "women have accepted conditions of work which if continued must ultimately be disastrous to health". [ 2 ] In an article written in 1916 after a visit to HM Factory Gretna, Rebecca West wrote "Surely, never before in modern history can women have lived a life so parallel to that of the ...
Munitions work involved mixing explosives, and filling shells and bullets. Munitionettes manufactured cordite and TNT, and those working with TNT were at risk of becoming "Canary Girls." [ 3 ] They were exposed to toxic chemicals that caused their skin and hair to turn yellow, hence the nickname. [ 4 ]
Women workers in the ordnance shops of Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company in Nicetown, Pennsylvania, during World War I (1918). Because the world wars were total wars, which required governments to utilize their entire populations to defeat their enemies, millions of women were encouraged to work in the industry and take over jobs previously done by men.
Munitions production started in April 1916. Engineers and chemists from nations throughout the British Empire were employed to establish the production of RDB Cordite. By 1917 the largest proportion of the workforce were women: 11,576 women to 5,066 men. [7] The women munitions workers were known collectively as The Gretna Girls. [8]
Over time, as warfare evolved, women's roles expanded, including work in areas like munitions production by the mid-19th century. During World War I and World War II , the primary role of women shifted towards employment in munitions factories, agriculture and food rationing, and other areas to fill the gaps left by men who had been drafted ...
The makeup of The Gretna Girls reflected the countrywide trends for munitions workers: the majority were working class young women. [3] However, as Chris Brader points out, unusually for Government factories, munition workers at Gretna came from an even younger demographic—a large proportion was under eighteen years of age. [ 4 ]