Fighting on the Home Front

A chronicle of the ways in which women's lives changed during World War I and what the impact has been for women today, 100 years laterIn 1914 the world changed forever. This book details how when World War I broke out and a generation of men went off to fight, women emerged from the shadows of their domestic lives. Now a visible force in public life, they began to take up essential roles, from transport to policing, munitions to sports, entertainment, even politics. They had finally become citizens, a recognized part of the war machine, acquiring their own rights and often an independent income. Charting the seismic move toward equal rights with men that began a century ago, this book asks what these women achieved for future generations. Full of original research and archival material, it brings the remarkable stories of women's experiences from domestic service to the industrial workplace, the hospital, the land, politics, and the aristocracy to life. This is history at its best, a vivid, compelling account of the pioneering women who helped win the war as well as a revealing assessment of their legacy for women's lives today.