Well, Monsieur, did I ever tell you about the time I was a Doughboy in the Great war?
This is the story of Marie Marvingt (1875 – 1963), an amazing French woman who did indeed serve in the forward trenches disguised as a man during the Summer of 1917.
She Fought in the Trenches (Liberty Magazine, 1938) Read More »
The essential facts are that women can do men’s heavy work with substantially equal output, without any disturbance of the particular industry, and, when guided by proper conditions, without detriment to their health. How far and how long they ought to do it in the emergency arising from the war is to be decided upon different grounds.
Click here to read about the women war workers of the Second World War.
Women Can Do The Heavy War Work (Scribner’s Magazine, 1919) Read More »
The attached news article from 1917 reported on the a Russian combat unit that consisted entirely of women soldiers called The Battalion of Death:
The courage of the Battalion of Death when the actual test came is the subject of many enthusiastic Petrograd dispatches. They behaved splendidly under fire, penetrating into a first-line trench of the Germans and brought back prisoners.
Russia’s Women Soldiers of W.W. I (Literary Digest, 1917) Read More »
Contrary to those trust-fund babies who lord over the Harper’s Bazaar of today, the editors and stylists of that magazine during World War I understood quite well the vital rolls American women were needed to fill while their country was struggling to attain proper footing in a state of total war. The attached file will show you seven photographs of various accessories recommended for W.W. I women war volunteers as well as two illustrations of various practical coats for winter.
From Amazon: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War
Christmas Shopping for Women in Service (Harper’s Bazaar, 1918) Read More »
Attached is a cartoon that was created during the third year of the First World War by a British cartoonist who feared that women have, through the years, been loosing their feminine mojo – that charming thing that truly separates them from the males of the species.
A Woman War Worker Cartoon (NY Times 1917) Read More »
Here is a segment from a longer article published in 1951 by an anonymous American woman who wished to be known to her readers only as a women who had grown up with the Century (born in 1900). In this column she insisted that it was the First World War that served as the proving ground where American women showed that they were just as capable as their brothers – and thus deserving of a voice in government.
W.W. I and American Women (Pageant Magazine, 1951) Read More »
Here are five quick sketches by the French artist Rabajoi depicting the women of France fulfilling their various obligations as Mariannes, as sweethearts and as family members.
W.W. I and French Women (Vanity Fair, 1916) Read More »
Woman’s hour has come! One of the splendid things that have come out of the bloody carnage of war to challenge the admiration of the world is the heroic exhibition of physical strength and courage shown by the women of the belligerent countries. They are doing more than merely substituting at men’s work. In England they are winning their struggle for equality with men.
Click here to read about the lot of French women during the First World War.
W.W. I and British Women (Collier’s Magazine, 1916) Read More »
Two years ago when the men began to drop out of the industrial world at the call to the colors their women associates gradually slipped into their places, and in the majority of cases effectively filled them… Those men have now nearly all come back to claim their old, or better jobs. What of the girl, then, in the soldier’s job? What is she going to do?
‘The Woman Who Took A Soldier’s Job” (American Legion Weekly, 1919) Read More »
Ida Tarbell (1857 – 1944), one of the greats of American journalism, wrote this article about the policy changes that were evolving in Washington and recognized that the mobilization of women in the cause of defeating Germany was a solid step in the direction of victory:
One of the many innovations of the National Council of Defense is an entirely original attempt to use the women power of the country.
Tarbell insightfully pointed out that up until that moment men and women had very little experience working together side by side.
Read a 1918 article about the women’s city.
Winning the War with Women (Harper’s Monthly, 1917) Read More »
