“The wars were a catalyst for women to work in more roles,” says Jenny Dibden, a director in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. “Now, there’s a much stronger sense that women working within the civil service is normal and natural. The real effort should now be on enabling women to progress to the higher grades.”
Women in World War II took on a variety of roles from country to country. World War II involved global conflict on an unprecedented scale; the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable.
This set of 29 fascinating color photos shows everyday life of British women during wartime.
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| On the River Avon, 1944 |
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| British war workers take a seaside break on a beach in Cornwall, 6th September 1943 |
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| Cambridge Market Square, 1944 |
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| Day Nursery, Hatfield, June 1943 |
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| Feeding and cleaning time, 1944 |
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| Flowers grow on bomb site in Gresham Street, London, July 1943 |
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| Hill street, Richmond in Sept. 1939 |
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| Land Army girls in 1944 |
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| Land Army girls quenching their thirst, 1944 |
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| London window shopping, 1941 |
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| Marlow, Buckinghamshire, May 1944 |
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| Models wearing Berketex utility fashions designed by Norman Hartnell, June 1943 |
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| Models wearing Berketex utility fashions designed by Norman Hartnell, London, June 1943 |
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| Pupils from a primary school out walking, rest beside a river path at Saxton Road, Abingdon, July 1944 |
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| Refugees from Plymouth at Tapeley Park, October 1942 |
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| Soldier embraces his wife and children at his home in Irby in Cheshire, at the start of seven days leave, 14 April 1944 |
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| The family butcher from Aswell, Hertfordshire, 1944 |
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| War Workers on holiday in Cornwall enjoy a day on the beach surrounded by rugged cliffs on a sunny day, September 1943 |
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| Wartime bride, 1945 |
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| Wartime fashion, 1944 |
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| Woman learns to use with gas masks, 1940 |
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| Women bicycling on Cambridge street, 1944 |
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| Women painting finished petrol self-sealing tanks, Dec. 1942 |
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| A Land Army girl busy with her Standard Fordson tractor in Oxfordshire, 1944 |
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| A woman at Anderson Shelter, 1940 |
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| A young woman comforts her kid on a beach in Cornwall, 6th September 1943 |
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| Aiding the war effort, October 1943 |
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| Bishop's Stortford, Essex, June 1944 |
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| British servicewomen enjoying a 'garden' on a bombed-out site in London, 1944 |