“The wars were a catalyst for women to work in more roles,” says Jenny Dibden, a director in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. “Now, there’s a much stronger sense that women working within the civil service is normal and natural. The real effort should now be on enabling women to progress to the higher grades.”
Women in World War II took on a variety of roles from country to country. World War II involved global conflict on an unprecedented scale; the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable.
This set of 29 fascinating color photos shows everyday life of British women during wartime.
On the River Avon, 1944British war workers take a seaside break on a beach in Cornwall, 6th September 1943.Cambridge Market Square, 1944Day Nursery, Hatfield, June 1943Feeding and cleaning time, 1944July 1943, Flowers grow on bomb site in Gresham Street, LondonHill street, Richmond in Sept. 1939Land Army girls in 1944Land Army girls quenching their thirst, 1944London window shopping, 1941Marlow, Buckinghamshire, May 1944Models wearing Berketex utility fashions designed by Norman Hartnell, June 1943Models wearing Berketex utility fashions designed by Norman Hartnell, London, June 1943Pupils from a primary school out walking, rest beside a river path at Saxton Road, Abingdon, July 1944Refugees from Plymouth at Tapeley Park, October 1942Soldier embraces his wife and children at his home in Irby in Cheshire, at the start of seven days leave, 14 April 1944The family butcher from Aswell, Hertfordshire, 1944War Workers on holiday in Cornwall enjoy a day on the beach surrounded by rugged cliffs on a sunny day, September 1943Wartime bride, 1945Wartime fashion, 1944Woman learns to use with gas masks, 1940Women bicycling on Cambridge street, 1944Women painting finished petrol self-sealing tanks, Dec. 1942A Land Army girl busy with her Standard Fordson tractor in Oxfordshire, 1944A woman at Anderson Shelter, 1940A young woman comforts her kid on a beach in Cornwall, 6th September 1943Aiding the war effort, October 1943Bishop’s Stortford, Essex, June 1944British servicewomen enjoying a ‘garden’ on a bombed-out site in London, 1944
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