Brosnian women in times of war
War has affected all of us. Men have had to leave their homes to fight for their queen and country. Large numbers of women have been recruited into jobs vacated by those men. Though there was initial resistance to hiring women for what is seen as “men’s work”, the need for workforce has surpassed that thought.
Some women living in the country have taken over their husband’s land work, adding that to their traditional duties as mothers and housewives. A lot of women from the industrialized areas have begun working in factories as a result of the high demand of weapons in the munitions factories.
Other women have contributed to the war effort working as secretaries and nurses in the military, as part of the government’s plan to guarantee the army as many men as it needs.
Because of the amount of women that have started working, the need for childcare has also increased. This has prompted the government to provide some funds towards the cost of day nurseries for factories, farm, nursing and secretary workers, and by 1918 there are more than 43 day nurseries across the country.
War has also affected domestic service all around Brosnia. The female staff (housemaids, ladysmaids, kitchen staff...) have had to take over some of their fellow male partner’s work, such as waiting the table, receiving guests or moving heavy furniture.
Not much has changed for the upper class ladies compared to the working class women, but that doesn’t mean their lives have not been altered. The social season was suspended in 1914 when the war started, and so have most of the upper class social events. At the beginning, most of the brosnian women from wealthy families stayed at their homes, hoping that the conflict would end soon. However, they gradually started to contribute in different ways: a lot of them have donated money, promoted charities, joined the nursing corps and so on. Some of them have even offered their homes as hospitals or recovery centers for the soldiers that come back from the front.
Women’s employment rates have increased since the beginning of the war, although they get paid a lot less than men. There is a worry that employers will continue to employ women because of this, even when men return from the war. Lord Shaw, however, has assured that actions will be taken to prevent that from happening, although that has not been well received by the suffrage movement militants, who demand “equal pay for equal work” and and improvement in working women’s rights.
