The Blitz Kids start noticing how many women are taking on important jobs now that so many men are away fighting in the war. George shares how women are stepping into roles that were traditionally held by men, like working in factories, offices, and even in the military.
For example, Peter’s mum becomes a bus driver, although her job mostly involves moving broken-down buses around, not driving passengers. Aunty Beatrix works as part of the Air Transport Auxiliary, moving planes, though she doesn’t get to fly them into battle like in the movies.
Embed from Getty ImagesMaggie, too young to work in most places, is excited to see women in roles like directing traffic and even operating radars to track enemy planes. George suggests she could join the Girl Guides, which is helping in the war by collecting supplies and learning first aid. Maggie thinks it would be more exciting to work as a spy, but later learns that some of the things the Guides were collecting, like cotton reels, were actually used by the secret service to hide important items!
Embed from Getty ImagesBy mid-1943, almost 90% of single women and 80% of married women were working in factories, on farms, or in the armed forces. Even Princess Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service!
However, when the war ended and the men returned, many women wanted to keep their jobs, leading to some disagreements. The episode highlights how women were not just helping during the war, but how the war started to change society, with women playing a bigger part in the workforce than ever before.
Next time: The Blitz Kids wonder how Alice is faring on Jersey in the Channel Islands, which has been occupied by the German Forces since June 1940.
Find out more…
Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS)
- Mainly based onshore
- Responsibilities include driving, cooking, clerical work, operating radar and communications equipment
- Helped plan and organise naval operations
- Must be good at keeping secrets – you might be called to operate machines used in codebreaking at Bletchley Park.
The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF)
- Provide administrative support for the RAF so that men could concentrate on fighting on the front line – like producing special reports and fixing and loading fighter and bomber planes.
- Work closely with pilots and aircrew, interpreting photographs of enemy targets, forecasting weather for air operations, plotting aircraft movements and debriefing returning aircrew
- Highly skilled training available as mechanics, electricians or engineers
- Must be brave – your station might come under air attack
The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS)
- Provide support for the Army – carried out tasks such as delivering, cooking and administration, as well as operating anti-aircraft search lights. Sometimes sent abroad.
- Wide range of jobs – from cooks, telephonists to drivers, postal workers and ammunition inspectors
- Four weeks of army basic training
- Training provided on driving, maintaining and repairing vehicles
- Volunteers taught to track enemy aircraft with radar and to aim anti-aircraft guns but only men allowed to fire them.
Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA)
- Responsible for flying military aircraft from factories to front line bases or damaged aircraft to repair yards
- Willing to fly anything from temperamental fighters to four-engine heavy bombers
- Flying aerobatics forbidden
Women’s Land Army
- Set up to help with food shortages. They worked on farmland to help ensure shortages were not too extreme. They were nicknamed ‘land girls’. By 1944, there were 80,000 women working on the land.
- Expected to work 48 hours a week in the winter and 50 hours in the summer
- Accommodation provided on the farm or hostel
- Must like working with cows dairy work in high demand
- Training in rat catching provided
- Specialist work in the Timber Corps available
- No holidays – after 1943, one week’s holiday a year was introduced
Can you spot this?
The Admiralty Citadel, a massive concrete structure, is located directly behind the Admiralty Building on Horse Guards Parade in London. It was built during World War II as a bomb-proof operations center and communications hub for the Royal Navy.