Episode 6

The battle for Equal Pay part 2: Women War Time Workers (1900-1918)

Rebel Women is a podcast about history's troublemakers.

This episode is the second in a five-part series about the battle for equal pay; a journey that spans nearly 100 years, from the late 1880s to the 1970 Equal Pay Act.

On the eve of the First World War, women's lives revolved around the home; a sheltered life of servitude to the family. And while some did work, employment options were normally limited and unfulfilling, with most ending up in domestic service.

But during the First World War, it wasn't long before the principal of women's place being in the home began to crumble. Male conscription forced employers to accept they needed women's labour and by the end of the war, at least one million women had been added to the British workforce.

But this rise in organised labour did not lead to equal pay. Women were merely interlopers, holding the jobs until the men returned. It made sense that they should be paid less.

For show notes, reading lists and further stories about East London women, visit our website eastlondonwomen.org.uk. Or find us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or Pinterest.

Rebel Women is part of the Women Activists of East London project, which has been developed by Share UK, a non-profit community group based in London. 

Special thanks to the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust for their support of today's episode.

Main theme by DanoSongs. Incidental music by Purple Planet Music.

Produced and edited by Steve Woodward at PodcastingEditor.com.

Further reading and links

The Road to Equality (Winning Equal Pay: the value of women's work)

12 Things You Didn't Know About Women In The First World War (Imperial War Museum)

Women and domestic service in Victorian society by Kate Clarke (The History Press)

Commemorating Silvertown: 100 years after London's largest explosion (Museum of London and the Museum of London Docklands)

Women's work in WW1 (Striking Women)

Sylvia Pankhurst (Spartacus Educational)

The London transport women workers' strike, 1918 by Ken Weller (libcom.org)

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