Transcript PPT: Women`s Lives before WW1

To what extent were women's lives already changing
before World War One?
This Smartboard lesson is provided for teachers to adapt and use either as a
whole class, teacher led lesson or as a resource for students to use either online
or from printouts.
Key Stage 4 History
Learning Aims and Outcomes
·Students will use primary evidence to help in their understanding of women's lives in the
period leading up to WW1
· Students will be able to demonstrate skills in assessing and using primary evidence,
such as the creation of criteria
· Students will have a more secure basis on which to judge the effects of WW1 and the
suffrage movement on women's lives
Relates to:
·History B (EDEXCEL)- Unit 3 Schools History Project Source Enquiry The impact of war
on society The situation of women in 1914
· History B (AQA) Unit 3 Historical Enquiry 4 The changing role and status of women in
Britain since 1900.
· History B (OCR) A972 British Depth Study How was British society changed 1890 1918. What was the social, economic and legal status of women in the 1890s?
From www.heritageexplore.org.uk Created by English Heritage - National Monuments Record
To what extent were women's lives already changing
before World War One?
Women's lives were different after World War One - one important
change being that they were allowed to vote.
But when did women's lives begin to change? Were they already
changing before the war?
In order to answer this question we will look at evidence to help us
build up a better picture of how women from different social
backgrounds lived in the period leading up to it - the late Victorian and
Edwardian periods (1880s - 1914).
Look carefully at the following photographs. They were all taken
during the late Victorian (1880s - 1900) or Edwardian period (1901 1914) and show real women going about their daily lives.
For each photograph note down;
· What the women are doing
· If they are working, what job they are doing
· Describe their clothing and surroundings; are they are rich or poor?
· Anything else it tells you about women's lives
Use the table on the next slide or the recording sheet for your notes you can copy the small images into the sheet.
Image
Description
Job
Rich or Poor
More
Employees at work in the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre factory in Coventry in July 1897. These
were skilled, indoor jobs.
Two nurses at Cheyne Hospital for Sick and Incurable Children, Chelsea, Greater London
in 1893
The three Miss Bromleys with their bicycles in Byfield, Northamptonshire, in 1904
A female swimming session at the Peoples Palace in the Mile End Road, Stepney, Greater
London in 1888
.
Agnes Maitland, the second Principal of Somerville College, Oxford in 1895.
A busy street scene in Cheapside, London around 1900 . Women are walking alone
and in groups. Some of them would have been out shopping. Shops are advertising
goods designed to appeal to women.
A group of young girls training to be domestic servants at Headington Domestic
Training School, Oxford in 1913. The school trained girls to serve in the best houses in
the city.
Rows of women sitting at sewing machines making various items of clothing for
the Cellular Clothing Company in Swindon in 1902.
A tennis match in Buckinghamshire some time between 1896 and 1920
A crowd gathers to listen to a small band on the beach at Margate between 1890 and
1910. Seaside resorts became much more popular after the building of railways.
The Comptometer room at the Stratford Co-operative Society in 1914, showing girls
and boys working on model 'E' comptometers. The comptometer was invented in
1887 and was the first successful manual calculating machine.
A gym class at West Heath School for Young Ladies, Richmond upon Thames, taken
some time after 1900.
Two female workers standing beside a tank of boiling brine in a salt works in Droitwich,
Worcestershire between 1880 - 1900
Students should now have gathered basic evidence from each
photograph.
The next step is to give students more information to help them
relate the images to changes that were happening to women at this
time. Information will be found in text books and in the teacher's
notes and related links sections of the activity.
Ask students to write down changes which will be used to draw up
a class list of statements on the whiteboard.
The statements on the next slide could be used as prompts.
To what extent were women's lives already changing
before World War One?
Middle class women began to visit department stores to buy
clothes instead of ordering from a catalogue.
Women's clothing changed to allow them to lead more active lives
Women began to take up new leisure activities
New inventions created new jobs for women to do
Train travel allowed women to be more independent
Extension Activities
The following slides have a number of differentiated extension
activities aimed at giving students the opportunity to look at
documentary sources to add to the evidence from the photographs.
Extension Work 1 - Find out more from the census
•Ask students to look at the table on the next slide. This shows changes in the proportions of
women employed in a variety of occupations (the numbers are women as a proportion of all
employed people over the age of 12, men and women, in that trade). The information was
gathered in the censuses of 1861 - 1911.
•The figures are taken from a larger table which is part of the 1911 census General report.
The whole document, along with the reports from other census years can be found on the
Vision of Britain website
•Ask students what evidence can be drawn from the figures. Does any of this evidence
confirm or challenge the evidence they drew from the photographs?
Students could write an essay using the Key question for a title. 'To what extent
were women's lives already changing before World War One?' They must decide
which point of view they wish to adopt and use evidence from the photos and
census to back it up
•Women's lives were already changing before World War One.
•Women's lives did not change before World War One
Proportions of Females in certain Occupations, 1861-1911 -The proportions of females in certain occupations,
and their variations at successive censuses from 1861, may be seen from the following table, ...... These tables
relate to the whole country, but it may be pointed out that the numbers of the two sexes in certain occupations
vary considerably in different localities.
Occupations
Proportions of Females per 1,000 Persons
occupied.
1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911
Agriculture
70
59
47
40
33
29
Schoolmasters, Teachers, Professors,
Lecturers
725
741
727
740
745
727
Photographers
66
147
197
234
257
297
Laundry and Washing Service
990
987
981
964
957
931
Commercial or Business Clerks
5
16
33
72
153
245
Telegraph, Telephone—Service (including
Government)
82
76
236
291
406
522
Earthenware, China, Porcelain—Manufacture
311
354
384
385
392
421
Paper Manufacture
417
395
444
401
366
312
Cotton Manufacture
567
598
620
609
628
614
Wool and Worsted Manufacture
461
513
561
557
582
571
Hosiery Manufacture
468
468
533
629
713
735
Drapers, Linen Drapers, Mercers (shop)
208
257
349
433
504
560
Straw—Plait, Hat, Bonnet Manufacture
921
926
903
814
737
666
Extension Work 2 - What was the role of
WW1 in changing women's lives?
Ask students to search Heritage Explorer for more images.
·they should use the keyword 'women' and do a search on the period Victorian plus one
on the period Edwardian
·they can make copies of any that add more evidence in support of, or to challenge, the
statement 'Women's lives were already changing before World War One'
·they must give reasons.
Use the teaching activity How did WWI change the role of women in Britain? to allow
students to find more information.
Students could then consider a third viewpoint for their essay question, 'World War One
accelerated a change in women's lives that started before the war'.
Extension Work 3 Women's clothing
Read through this description of clothing worn by working women in 1911 - from a
longer article called 'Dress at the time of the 1911 census' by Jayne Shrimpton.
Popular dress
The busy working woman in 1911 needed respectable but practical clothing for everyday wear and better
garments for weekends - a modified version of high fashion. The smart tailor-made outfit was the mainstay
of the female wardrobe and comprised an ankle-length skirt and long, matching jacket. Active women
adapted the restricting ‘hobble’ shape and wore their skirts at least the width of a stride, extra fullness
created by gores and pleats. Different blouses offered variety, either plain, or with neat tucks, round
necklines or collars, including a masculine-style shirt and tie version, popular with younger women;
dressier blouses featured a higher neckline, lace collars or panels, or were layered over a chemisette. More
formal one-piece , of different fabrics and colours to suit the season or occasion, emphasised the
fashionable high waistline. Hair was drawn up above a parting into wide, full waves or soft curls above the
temples. Heads were covered outdoors and even ordinary hats were broad-brimmed and decorated with
flowers and ribbons. Gloves, ‘modern’ handbags on long cords and one-inch heeled buttoned boots or
shoes ornamented with bows or buckles were standard accessories.
• Look for images of women's clothing on Heritage Explorer (search on keywords women, clothing and
period Edwardian) and find examples of the different styles described above - look on the next page for
some images to start you off. Copy the photographs into a power point presentation and label the fashion
details.
• Do the photographs agree with the description? Are there any women in the photographs who are
wearing different clothes if so who are they and why do you think this was so?
Link - Dress at the time of the 1911 census
Extension Work 4 The effects of Department Stores on the lives of
women
• Send students to The Fashion for Shopping web pages on the English Heritage website
• Ask them to read and note down any interesting/shocking quotations such as;
In 1894 the drapery union called this (shop) work 'The Slavery of the Counter'. Lady Jeune's 1895 article,
'The Ethics of Shopping' condemned the exploitation and physical conditions that ruined the health of
young women assistants.
Women making the actual goods were often worse off, as the 1895 Co-operative Women's Guild enquiry
found female apprentice milliners and dressmakers under 18 in its 104 Co-operative Stores received no
wages at all.
As early as 1855, 'The Sempstress' carried an article on how rich young ladies could help working
women by refusing to shop at any 'emporium' where 'one gets such delightful bargains' and asking why
the goods were so cheap
• Use as basis for discussion/ debate/essay question
- the last quote in particular could be related to
current issues with cheap labour/sweatshops and
shops selling very cheap clothing
More resources;
- Heritage Explorer search Department Store
- English Heritage web pages Visible in Stone
Useful links to further information
The National Archive (TNA) website Living in 1901 provides images and
documents about the lives of women in different occupations, including typists
and telephone operators.
The Women's History pages on the EH website provides more information
about women's lives and work. Follow the links to Visible in Stone and
Women's Rights
The Vision of Britain website can provide more detailed information and
statistics about certain occupations or women's occupations in your local
area. It is also useful to look at the 1921 Census General report to see if the
proportion of women working continued to rise after WW1 - NB the detailed
tables are not yet included but there are useful statements and figures
The 1911 census website has all of the other censuses as well as articles on
topics such as’ What women wore in 1911’.