The Munitionettes: Women who risked everything to help win WWI

Due to poor planning and a failure to anticipate the demands of modern warfare, the British government faced a severe munitions crisis in 1915 when the need for shells and other military supplies quickly outpaced the country's production capacity.

This crisis became critical during the Second Battle of Ypres (April-May 1915), when British forces experienced severe shortages of artillery shells.

Soldiers on the front lines suffered as they lacked the necessary ammunition to fight effectively.

Newspapers, most notably The Times, brought public attention to this issue, which led to widespread outrage and political pressure on the government to resolve the problem swiftly. 

In response to this desperate situation, the British government passed the Munitions of War Act in July 1915.

This was designed to boost production and ensure that workers would focus on war-related manufacturing.

David Lloyd George, who was appointed as Minister of Munitions, took control of factories and coordinated the entire process of munitions production.

However, one of the most pressing issues was the lack of a sufficient workforce.

Thousands of men were fighting abroad, and the existing labor pool could not meet the immense demand for munitions.

As a result of this urgent need, the government decided to recruit women into the factories, which was a remarkable shift from traditional labor practices. 

Government recruitment campaigns began in earnest to encourage women to join the workforce and take on roles that had previously been occupied by men.

Posters and public speeches spread the message across the country. Slogans like "Women of Britain, come into the factories" became familiar calls to action.

The introduction of the National Register in 1915, which recorded the occupations of men and women, further helped identify women who were available for work.

By 1916, women started to fill munitions factories in large numbers. Their involvement became essential to meeting the needs of the war, and as more women entered the factories, munitions production increased dramatically, which allowed the British army to continue its fight on the front lines with more confidence. 

Working in munitions factories during World War I was an exhausting and perilous task.

The munitionettes faced long hours—often up to twelve hours a day, six days a week.

However, the factories were overcrowded and poorly ventilated, which meant that workers constantly inhaled fumes from the chemicals used in the production of explosives.

The repetitive nature of the work, combined with the strain due to heavy materials, also made the job physically demanding.

Many women developed muscle fatigue and back problems due to the strenuous nature of the tasks they performed daily. 

Furthermore, exposure to toxic chemicals, particularly trinitrotoluene known as TNT, was one of the most dangerous aspects in these factories.

It was an essential element for the production of high-explosive shells, but this substance posed a severe health risk to those who handled it.

Women who regularly came into contact with TNT developed a condition called ‘toxic jaundice’, which caused their skin to turn a bright yellow.

Because of their yellow appearance, which was a visible sign of TNT poisoning, the workers were nicknamed ‘canary girls’.

In addition to the discoloration, prolonged exposure to TNT often led to more severe health problems, such as liver damage and respiratory issues. 

The risk of accidental explosions was another constant threat in the factories.

Even a small mistake could ignite the volatile chemicals and cause devastating blasts.

In 1917, an explosion at the National Shell Filling Factory in Chilwell killed 134 workers, which made it one of the deadliest workplace accidents in British history.

Safety measures in the factories were often inadequate, which meant that accidents were frequent, and workers sometimes paid the ultimate price. 

According to the Ministry of Munitions, the number of shells produced in 1916 had increased by more than tenfold compared to the previous year.

During key moments such as the Battle of the Somme, when the British Army fired more than 1.5 million shells in just one week, the contributions of the munitionettes were critical.

By 1917, over 80% of the munitions produced in Britain were made by women. For instance, during the Passchendaele offensive in 1917, the British fired over four million shells.

This relentless supply gave the Allies a crucial advantage over the Central Powers, who struggled to keep up with the same level of production.

In fact, by the end of the war, British factories staffed largely by women had produced over 76 million shells. 

Although munitionettes were essential to the war effort, they faced significant workplace discrimination, particularly in terms of pay; women who worked in munitions factories were paid much less than their male counterparts, even though they performed the same tasks under the same dangerous conditions.

In some cases, women earned only half of what men received for similar work. The government justified this disparity on the grounds that men were the primary breadwinners, which meant that their pay should be higher.

In addition, men were typically given supervisory roles, even when they had less experience than the women who had been working in the factories for months.

Women were often relegated to the most repetitive and hazardous tasks. As mentioned above, this meant they faced greater health risks than their male colleagues.

Employers believed that women, because of their gender, were more suited to monotonous tasks, which reinforced gender stereotypes that existed before the war. 

Unfortunately, many men viewed the influx of women into these jobs with suspicion or outright hostility because they believed it undermined their roles as providers.

Some workers even staged protests because they feared that the employment of women would lead to permanent changes in the workforce and threaten their own jobs after the war.

Society at large was also slow to accept the idea of women in industrial roles, which were seen as unsuitable for them.

Critics argued that women's work in the factories would lead to moral decline or disrupt the family unit, which was considered the foundation of social order. 

Following the end of the war in 1918 and the return of soldiers from the front, the lives of the munitionettes changed dramatically as the need for women in munitions factories quickly diminished.

Employers, who were motivated by the desire to re-establish pre-war employment norms, began to replace women with men in industrial roles.

Many women were laid off or encouraged to return to traditional domestic duties.

Government propaganda, which had previously urged women to take on wartime jobs, now promoted the idea that women should return to their homes. 

When men returned from the front, societal pressure for women to relinquish their newfound independence increased as traditional gender roles, which had been temporarily set aside during the war, were reimposed with vigor.

Many women, who had gained confidence and a sense of purpose through their work, struggled to adjust to this sudden shift.

Although some managed to retain jobs in factories or clerical roles, the majority were pushed back into domestic life.

Consequently, many who had hoped the war would permanently alter women's place in the workforce felt frustrated. 

However, because the munitionettes' involvement in the war effort challenged long-held beliefs about women's capabilities, their experience had lasting consequences for post-war society.

The war demonstrated that women could excel in roles traditionally reserved for men, which helped fuel the women's suffrage movement.

In 1918, the Representation of the People Act granted the vote to women over the age of 30.

The war had opened a door, even if briefly, to new possibilities for women in the workforce, and though most found themselves excluded from industrial jobs once again.

Therefore, the munitionettes had laid the groundwork for future generations of women who would continue to demand equal rights and opportunities in the years to come.