Munitionettes


 * [[image:Science_&_Society_Picture_Library_10322743.jpg width="277" height="205" align="left" link="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wmunitions.htm"]][|Munitionettes]** “Since they all had a slightly yellow tinge to their skin, he assumed they were munitions workers. Munition//ettes//, as the newspapers liked to call them,” (Barker 87). During World War I, women were often employed in the munitions factories to aid in the war effort. Since there were few men left to work in the factories due to their being at the front, women stepped up to fill the job openings. In 1915 the British government passed the [|Munitions of War Act] which put [|David Lloyd G][|eorge] in control of munitions factories. This allowed him to abolish labor unions and place less skilled workers in the factories. At the start of the war there were over 212,000 women working in the factories, and by the end of the war that number had reached 950,000. By 1917 women produced at least 80% of all munitions manufactured. The work was often hard and very dangerous, and the constant shelling at the front kept up a constant demand for fresh munitions. There were often explosions in the factories and one in London claimed the lives of 12 women. By the end of the war over 200 women had died from explosions in the factories and countless other women suffered from [|TNT poisoning]. Women were also only payed half as much as the men for this dangerous work.



This is important to understand because the woman you encounter in the book such as Sarah Lumb and her friends all are Munitionettes. Also, they suffer from TNT poisoning as shown by their yellow skin. It is vital to understand this because it adds even more to the role reversal of men and women during WWI to the way the men in Craiglockhart are feeling vulnerable and less manly for sharing feelings. NDB & CAS