How far can WW1 be considered a turning point for bringing about a change to the role and status of women in the years 1850-1950?

The long term significance of the war helped women to gain employment opportunities when the Sex Disqualifications Act was passed in 1919 which gave rights to women to enter professions like jurors, magistrates, barristers and higher ranks of civil service. The act also removed legal barriers to women going to Oxford and Cambridge. The impact of this act was limited however it was an improvement in the role and status of women as by 1927, 77 women had succeeded in becoming barristers and the percentage of women entering medical professions had increase from 6% in 1911 to 7.4% in 1925. Apart from the war being a key turning point, there was an international trend towards women’s suffrage. For example, New Zealand granted women the right to vote in 1893 and Australia followed suit in 1902. This put pressure on the government to act, as it would be embarrassing if 55% of the population could not vote even though they contributed to the war effort and Britain claimed to be a Defender of Democracy.

At the end of the war undoubtedly much of what had improved was lost immediately showing that the war forced temporary changes on a society that was not yet ready to embrace equality for women. There was clear evidence of post-war regression when men had returned from war and the level of war production had reduced, women workers were dispensable even though they had proved their capabilities of carrying out war work and being an effective workforce. Consequently, within two weeks of the war ending 133,000 women were dismissed from their jobs and five months later 600,000 women had lost their jobs showing that the impact of the war was short-term. As Annette Mayer states ‘it is questionable whether women gained any significant long-term advantages from their wartimes experiences’ as employers and trade unions had emphasised the importance of reinstating men to their jobs once the war had ended.

However, in my opinion WWI acted as a catalyst for change as earlier suffrage campaigns pre-war 1914 had faced resistance from the government and legal status had only seen few improvements for example the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act in the 1880’s and employment being dictated strictly by gender and class. From 1915 onwards women saw their employment status improved as a result of the war, which in turn played a key factor in gaining the franchise in 1918. As a result, the war was a key factor in improving the role and status of women as some things had changed irreversibly such as gaining the franchise, which made the Equal Franchise campaign inevitably successful within a decade. Also changes in social attitudes and legal status were evident such as the Sex Disqualification Removal Act of 1919 and the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1923 which put men and women on an equal footing in terms of the right to divorce.