Women at war

Women also found themselves increasingly involved in military aspects of the war - much more than they had been in the First World War. Women joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the women's section of the army. One of the first things the army chiefs had to realise was that women wanted toilets with doors on! It was not very glamorous work - cooking, typing, driving – and ATS women were considered to be of a lower class than women in the Air Force or Navy.

Some did, however, get to work on anti-aircraft guns where they were allowed to do everything except actually fire them. Shooting down German planes was not considered to be suitable for women. But it was dangerous work – German planes at night would dive down the beam of the searchlight, firing their guns to put the light out. This cost the lives of 335 ATS members.

In the Women's Auxiliary Air Force they learned to operate barrage balloons and flew planes on non-combat missions. The least popular job for women was in the Women's Land Army - just as it had been in the First World War. Working in the fields and farms was considered smelly, hard and unfeminine. The pay was only £2.40 a week.

Neil Demarco: The era of the Second World War; Oxford University Press, 1993/2000, page 63