Gold-Wood, Sandra The Munitionettes

The Canary Girls of the Great War

The Munitionettes focuses on the lives of a special group of women and girls in the run-up to and during the First World War. It is in part the social history of hundreds of thousands of forgotten heroines, also known as the Canary Girls, and attempts to highlight the significant contribution these women made to supporting the armed forces during the First World War, which has been largely overlooked. Here you will find descriptions of the experiences of young women in the specially built munitions factories in their own words, speaking to us from history. It deals with working practices and the position of women in society that are completely alien to today's world. The book focuses on the many hardships, sacrifices, injuries and working conditions these women faced against a backdrop of prejudice and mistrust in this truly male-dominated world. It shows that even without encouragement and with very little support from society, these women stood up for their country. The book also shows how female workers gained respect for a short time after the First World War; as brief as this period was, it marked the beginning of change for all women.