Overview: Australian Women and World War I
When war broke out in 1914, the majority of Australian women were confined to the traditional roles of wife and mother, although 24% were working as domestic servants or in factories. This was similar to British women.
In May 1915 when British soldiers ran short of artillery shells, the government realized its activities at home were incomplete and did not adequately support the war effort. The British government decided it urgently needed to achieve 'total war'.
As a result of 'total war', there was a radical overhaul of women’s roles in Britain. Employment opportunities were made available to women who replaced men in offices, factories, farms and even in mining and heavy industries such as ship building. In one of the biggest industries, in the engineering and manufacturing of shells and weapons, more than 950,000 female ‘munitionettes’ were employed by the end of the war.
In contrast, the Australian government denied women the opportunity of replacing men. The goverment believed that it was more appropriate for women to retain their traditionally supportive and nuturing roles.
Recruitment and Conscription
Watch: http://aso.gov.au/titles/historical/ww1-troops-embarkation/clip1/
By the end of 1914, 53,000 men had been accepted as volunteers for the Australian Imperial Force, enough to satisfy the promise Australia had made to Britain at the start of WWI. The news of the landing at Anzac Cove resulted in a significant increase in enlistments, with more than 36,000 men being recruited in July 1915 alone. This was to be the highest level of enlistments throughout the war and allowed the Australian Prime Minister, William 'Billy' Hughes to meet his 1915 promise to Britain of an additional 50,000 troops in addition to the monthly promise of 9,500 men. These figures were in addition to the reinforcements required for the AIF troops injured or killed.
The government's drive to increase recruitment was widely supported by women. In 1916 with enlistment numbers falling drastically and the news of substantial casualties at Fromelles and Pozieres, the Hughes government decided conscription was the only way to solve the issue of adequate troop numbers. It was clear to all in 1916 that victory was not going to be achieved quickly, and that the sacrifices already made would have to continue before the war could be won.
The conscription issue presented an opportunity for women to become politically involved in both the pro-conscription and anti-conscription cases. The referendum, held in October 1916, was rejected by the Australian people by a very close margin.
Despite the desire of many women to contribute directly to the war effort, the government continued to refuse to allow this to happen. A new organization, the Australian Women’s Services Corps, formed in November 1916, becoming a semi-military organization, with uniforms and drills and training exercises, extending the role of women in Australia in a limited way. Some of these women helped in the building of new homes for returned soldiers at French’s Forest in Sydney, New South Wales.
Britain’s request for more than 70,000 Australian troops during 1917 was the impetus for the second conscription referendum in December 1917. Against the backdrop of 38,000 Australian casualties at the 3rd Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) and heavy losses at Messines together with dwindling enlistments, the conscription campaign was more emotional than the 1916 campaign. Again women played an important role, perhaps more prominent than in 1916.
By the end of the war, the loss and grief of the nation was felt keenly in many homes. 1918 saw a spike in the numbers of casualties, with Australians fighting in key battles including Villers- Bretonneux, Hamel, Amiens and Mont St Quentin. The total number of Australian men lost in the war, 61,720, in addition to the 155,000 wounded, meant many women’s lives were inexorably changed by the war. Women mourned the sons, brothers, fathers and sweethearts lost overseas. The uncertainty around the inevitable changes, both physical and mental, of the men who had served overseas but who now returned home made the longed-for return a particularly poignant day.
Women continued to be involved in organizations which supported returned servicemen throughout the next decade, and similarly, many experienced significant changes in their lives readjusting to men who had seen the very best and very worst of humanity. Australia women had played important and varied roles during the war, and their lives were changed by their varied experiences of World War I.
'Total war' means when all the resources of a coun try, civilians at home and soldiers at the front, are dedicated to the war effort of that country.
5,533 Australian soldiers lost their lives at Fromelles, a pointless feint designed to stem British losses at the Battle of the Somme. The Australian deaths occured on one night, the 19th/20th of July, 1916 and when the battered remains of the 15th Brigade gathered the next morning, Brigadier "Pompey" Elliot was so affected by the loss of officers and men that he had tears in his eyes.
Additionally, there was a division between women who supported the war and those who did not. Many women with menfolk fighting at Gallipoli and then at the Western Front and/or the Middle East were enthusiastic supporters of the war, and supported the Red Cross, the Australian Comforts Fund and many other fund-raising activities to benefit the Diggers. Many of these women later became actively involved in the fight to introduce conscription.
Other Australian women who did not support the war including feminists, pacifists and socialists. They became politically active and began urging other Australians through pamphlets, letters to newspapers, by lobbying politicians, speaking at rallies and attending demonstration to stop Australia’s involvement in the war.
While the proportion of Australian women in the work force during World War I actually increased to 37%, the increase was firmly tied to traditional female roles such as teachers, shop assistants, office work and in manufacturing, jobs where women received lower pay than 'male' occupations. In fact, soldiers worried that if women took their jobs, they would not be able to be re-employed because of lower pay rates for women, and the government was determined to ensure that the Diggers were not disadvantaged on their return.
Thus, during the war, the focus of the vast majority of women, particularly those in the working class, remained home-centred. The mundane concerns of managing the family budget became very challenging for these women because of Australia's high unemployment rate and high food prices.
