By 1943, almost half a million women were working at the women’s division of the armed forces and almost the same number of women were serving in the civil defence. Moreover, women were able to choose from a number of organisations and services. During the conflict, women contributed to the war with their work and effort.

The role of women in post-war society changed dramatically due to the new freedom and opportunities created during the conflict.

At the National Women’s Conference convened by the government in September 1943, Winston Churchill assured the women delegates that the contribution to the war effort by the British women had ‘definitelly altered those social and sex balances which years of convention had established’.

Studies written near the end of the war by Margaret Goldsmith and Gertrude Willians refer to a wartime ‘revolution’ in the position of women.

We want to show a fragment of the way in which women contributed to the Second World War.

PRINCESS MARY’S ROYAL AIR FORCE NURSING SERVICE.

The PMRAFNS was the nursering unit attached to the British RAF. The image below shows five of the initial nurses who joined the RAF’S first medical parachute unit. They were required to carry 200Ibs of medical equipment.

http://museumstjohn.org.uk/behind-wheel-front-line-women-ambulance-drivers-wwii/

HOSPITALS BEFORE WORLD WAR II. TRAINING CENTRE FOR NURSES

At the beginning of 1939, Europe was going to start another great war. The experience of World War I helped the British government to face this new war and not make the same mistakes.

The Armed Forces thought they needed at least 5,000 trained nurses to care for the thousands of men who were going to be injured in future battles.

The National Health Service in the United Kingdom did not exist until 1948. Before that time, there were two types of hospitals:

· Voluntary hospitals, which were considered the best hospitals, because their treatments were paid for by private patients.

· Infirmaries, which were funded by the local authorities and were often built near a cemetery. Consequently, nobody wanted to go to this kind of hospital.

More hospitals were needed. For this reason, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital was opened by the Queen herself in early 1939 (Queen Elizabeth was then Queen Consort to HM King George VI). This hospital was a great training centre for nurses.

The nurses’ life in this hospital was very hard. They had to live in, and were not allowed to wear their uniform outside the hospital. Very strict rules were observed, including the fact that marriage was prohibited during the training period. Women had to pay £20 for their uniform and textbooks, and the salary was only £18. However, they did not have to pay for accommodation.

ORGANISATION OF HOSPITALS AND THEATRE BLOCKS

Before the beginning of World War II, hospitals had to organise and manage the arrival of thousands of wounded, and consequently each nurse was sent to a different place according to her skills. Some nurses served in overseas British military campaigns and others at military hospitals in Britain.

Theatres were created to care for the wounded. The theatre block consisted of five large operating theatres with the best equipment. Besides, there were two smaller units for minor surgery. Because of the large number of wounded, it was decided to have two operating tables working concurrently in each of the theatres, so that treatment could be carried out as speedily as possible. While operating on the first patient at one table, another patient on the second table was being prepared by the nurses. Most were suffering from severe and complicated leg wounds. Nurses had to immobilize the limbs with very thick plaster in the battlefield hospitals. This treatment was the salvation of many young men and it also saved limbs which would surely have required amputation.

Anesthesia, vascular surgery and plastic surgery were revolutionary in the theatres. Consequently, the years after World War II were prosperous for both the medical and the nursing practices.

For instance, there were no sutures, and sometimes the nurses offered their fine hair to be used for this purpose. After being sterilised, it was also used to repair median nerves which had been damaged in forearm injuries caused by shrapnel.

Despite the fact that the role of women was very important during the war, once it was over, women returned to their traditional roles. And although nowadays their work is more valued, I agree with Pam Schweitzer, who told us in the introduction of the Book “What did you do in the war, mum?”, “The campaign for equal pay and opportunities still continues, fifty years later”.