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In this evocative book, Angela Woollacott analyzes oral histories, workers' writings, newspapers, official reports, and factory song lyrics to present an intimate view of women munitions workers in Britain during World War I.
Munitions work offered working-class women—for the first time—independence, a reliable income, even an improved standard of living. But male employers and trade unionists brought them face-to-face with their subordination as women within their own class, while experiences with middle-class women co-workers and police reminded them of their status as working class.
Woollacott sees the woman munitions worker as a powerful symbol of modernity who challenged the gender order through her patriotic work and challenged class differences through her increased spending power, mobility, and changing social behavior.
Munitions work offered working-class women—for the first time—independence, a reliable income, even an improved standard of living. But male employers and trade unionists brought them face-to-face with their subordination as women within their own class, while experiences with middle-class women co-workers and police reminded them of their status as working class.
Woollacott sees the woman munitions worker as a powerful symbol of modernity who challenged the gender order through her patriotic work and challenged class differences through her increased spending power, mobility, and changing social behavior.
Price: $31.95
Pages: 256
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
20 May 1994
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780520085022
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
Angela Woollacott is Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Women's Studies Program at Case Western Reserve University. She is the co-editor of Gendering War Talk (1993).
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
LIST OF TABLES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
l. The Army of Women:
Munitions Factories and Women Workers
2. The Heterogeneity of Women Workers:
Mixing and Mobility
3. "Industrial Work Is Good for Women":
Health, Welfare, Deaths, and Injuries
4. Status and Experience as Workers
5. "High Wages and Premature Liberty'':
Wages, Autonomy, and Public Censure
6. Off the Job: Leisure, Socializing, and Sex
7. Class Relations among Women
8. "On Her Their Lives Depend":
Gender, War, and Women Munitions Workers
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
LIST OF TABLES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
l. The Army of Women:
Munitions Factories and Women Workers
2. The Heterogeneity of Women Workers:
Mixing and Mobility
3. "Industrial Work Is Good for Women":
Health, Welfare, Deaths, and Injuries
4. Status and Experience as Workers
5. "High Wages and Premature Liberty'':
Wages, Autonomy, and Public Censure
6. Off the Job: Leisure, Socializing, and Sex
7. Class Relations among Women
8. "On Her Their Lives Depend":
Gender, War, and Women Munitions Workers
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX