Australian Women In Ww1 Essay

When the first World War proceeded to take place, many Australian men- underage or not, volunteered themselves to protect and take pride in their country. Women had no choice but to fill in those vacant jobs that were left by the now soldiers. Australian women weren’t allowed into war, unless if they were active in the field of nursing, to help aid the wounded soldiers, or if they were involved in other service duties prior to the war. Women that helped the wounded in the war front were acknowledged as the only women to have contributed to the war and had failed to recognise the women that stayed back and had endured stress and hardships.

Prior to World War 1, women in the upper class did not work and very few worked after, as the sufficient amount of wealth ensured that they would not run out of servants, and had plenty of money for food and other resources, which the other classes had not of. Working class women, on the other hand, had to work to ensure the survival of their family. Working in factories and in domestic services as maids were common jobs, but aside from that, it was uncommon for many women to have jobs. Being brought up into the world of male supremacy, women stayed home and looked after

Not only were the women recruited into the old jobs vacated by the men, who had gone to fight in the war, but new jobs were also created as part of the war effort. The government’s attitude towards female employment at first was negative as they were reluctant to allow the women to do any jobs left by the men. This later changed, as the government began pushing forward the idea of employment of women through campaigns and recruitment drives. Working as railway guards and ticket collectors, buses and tram conductors, postal workers, police, firefighters and as bank tellers and clerks, women began to change the concept of what was before deemed as ‘men’s