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Women After Ww1 Analysis

Decent Essays

One interpretation shows that women benefited politically from the war after the end of WW1. Source A1, highlights how WW1 impacted both women as a whole, as well as the Suffrage movement, by showing that they were a crucial part in Britain's success in the war. The source shows an extract from the BBC Website in 2008, states how women benefited from the war, both politically, and in terms of equality, as shown in February 1918, where they receive the right to vote, in the "Representation of People Act" (exclusive only women over 30), which led to 8 million women being eligible to vote by 1918, showing female advancement in politics. The source is also accurate in saying that role of women was significant during WW1 (60% of all shells were …show more content…

Additionally, the source is published in 2008, meaning that the source has hindsight, and it had access to multiple historical records, so it can therefore make a long-term and well-informed view. The source was written to inform and it was intended to be as reliable as possible, making it trustworthy as it has no reason to be bias. The source is very useful in showing that the women played a huge role in WW1 and is useful in showing that women made political advancement as a result of WW1. However, the source was written for GCSE students, so it may come across as unspecific and lacking in detail, as it may have been simplified in an attempt to tailor to their target reader, making it slightly less useful to us as a historian, because of the lack of in-depth detail. In spite of these obvious flaws, this source is still useful in showing that WW1 impacted women politically, and in showing that the general perception of women …show more content…

This is supported by Source A6 which depicts women to be a lot more wealthier and more economically able. The source shows an extract from a book called "Voices and Images of the Great War", which recalls an account from H.V Shawyer, saying how women were able to "spend a night in the pub", an action, which would have previously been to be unusual. Shawyer further recounts how women were also paid in a "roll of notes", which shows that women were earning far more than they used to. This is reinforced by figures showing that some women earned 20 shillings a day (£1 a day) compared to a corporal, who earned around 2 shillings a day. Furthermore, women were often seen to be outside, socialising , which wasn't the norm, therefore supporting the source in saying women gained more social freedom. However, there is some questionability, as to the reliability of the source, because of the fact that it is a memory from H.V. Shawyer, a man, who could pose a biased view on women and may exaggerate some details due to jealousy, making it inaccurate and unreliable. Furthermore, the source is written in 1990, 72 years after the war, which could mean some of the details may have been inaccurate because the memory may have been distorted over time, making it unreliable as he may have exaggerated aspects of the account to compensate for parts he couldn't remember that

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