The Great War - WW1
The Home Front
In 1914 there was a widespread feeling that in spite of the war, it would be 'business as usual' back home in Britain. In the next four years, however, the demands of the war brought important social changes.
The massive exodus of men from the factories and mines to join Kitchener's New Army left Britain's industry short of skilled labour. In the factories their places were, in large part, filled by women, an important step on the road to female emancipation. During the war women moved into many areas of traditional male employment. A soldier returning to 'Blighty' on leave would be struck by women working on the railways as porters and guards and on the trams as conductors. Members of the Woman's Land Army helped to boost agricultural output throughout the country.
There were problems, however. In spite of government pledges, women war workers earned less than men. Trade unionists claimed that the employment of so many women in industry - in some munitions plants they outnumbered the male workforce by three to one - would lower men's wages.
During the war the price of staple foods climbed steeply. In 1914-15 the price of meat rose by 40% and that of sugar by nearly 70%, prompting accusations that 'profiteers' were exploiting the situation to make fortunes. Later the U-boat campaign threatened Britain's Atlantic supply lines, but the rationing of sugar, meat and butter was not introduced until February 1918. In 1915 the government acted more swiftly to introduce licensing laws, to restrict the hours when public houses could open, after it was claimed that well-paid munitions workers were drinking away their afternoons.