It was not until 1915 that a National Register was compiled during the last war.
This is how a woman writer spoke of it: "The idea of describing themselves in the new registration papers has put many women into a fluster. What special aptitudes or talents have we that could be of use to our country?" In what the Americans call World War Il there can have been few fluttering hearts or trembling fingers as women took up their.pens to set down their "special aptitudes "or i talents."
On Saturday, July 15, 1915, 30,000 women paraded in the rain from Bridgestreet, Westminster, {ip Whitehall, down Piccadilly.
Among the marchers ankle-in length, cumbrously pleated sXirts and flyaway hats were Sirs. Pankhurst, Madame Clara Butt and Mrs, Wal-dorf Astor.
They splashed bravely along in the downpour to tell the world that women could work in the war.
"We demand the right to serve," announced one of the dripping banners they carried. "For men must fight and women must work," said another, "Let women help to win ithe war!" screamed a third.
But their qualifications were very different, "Then," says Mrs. Stra-woman would say: 'I can I run my own home.' To-woman who has had no mal training will say apologeticall 'I'm afraid I can't do very much:
e only managed my own house!
Early in the last war Mrs. Strachey was asked to find 30 women to act gang leaders at the Arsenal.
Today she would have called on the Women's Engineering Society, where 600 women, most of them trained in the principles of workshop practice, are ready to serve, "Not Quite Nice"
People thought that it wasn't quite nice, but they admuted that it was the only effective way of making the country aware of the need to put B women into munition factories to replace men, the knowing ones said that the whole taing had been staged by the Government in collaboration witn the militant suffragettes, as propaganda to dislodge existing prejudices against a woman doing a man's job.
Whatever it was it worked, By 1916 opinion had veered round so far that articles about "idle girls" and "our women slackers" appeared in the newspapers. thousands of women were employed in aeroplane and munition works, as dockers, as policewoman, and on the land, In 1917 came the W.A.A.C, S, is a commonplace that women did splendid work in the last war. It is all the more creditable when you remember how it all began.
"What can the Government do with thousands of ladies who have never done a day's work in their lives, and whose activities have been exclusive-
Training For Future The Careers Problem
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.