First World War: Centenary

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Monday 4th March 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury]

My Lords, like my noble friend Lady Fookes, I shall draw attention to the vital contribution made by women in the First World War. When I look around this House and see how many men and how few women have put down their names to speak, I hope I am not going to be too repetitive where this debate is concerned.

I want to start by congratulating the Heritage Lottery Fund on awarding £140,000 to centenary projects that specifically celebrate the war effort of women. This includes £70,000 to the Florence Nightingale Museum to commemorate the volunteer field hospital at Bourbourg near Dunkirk.

Women were not, of course, only field nurses. Approximately 1.5 million joined the workforce during World War 1. They worked across government departments, on public transport, running post offices, as clerks in businesses and, as the noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, mentioned, as munitionettes. Women’s war work included non-combat jobs in the military services but they were also part of anti-aircraft units which shot down German planes.

In the words of suffragette, Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett:

“The war revolutionised the industrial position of women … It not only opened opportunities of employment in a number of skilled trades but, more important even than this, it revolutionised men’s minds and their conception of the sort of work of which the ordinary everyday woman was capable”.

That, of course, as was mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Clark of Windermere, and the noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, led finally to emancipation. They also joined trade unions. In 1914 there were only 357,000 female members; in 1918 there were over a million. Despite this, women’s wages remained unequal. Today, 100 years after the First World War and 40 years after the Equal Pay Act, women working in the UK are still paid on average about 15% less per annum than men. Perhaps I may suggest to my noble friend the Minister that an appropriate and lasting legacy would be a commitment to closing this gender gap at last.

Finally, other noble Lords have talked about their ancestors. I will not go into too much detail about my great-grandfather, but my grandmother’s generation lost brothers, lovers and friends, and only 25 years later it was happening again. My own first cousin never knew his father due to conflict within Europe—due to European fighting European. In commemorating this centenary, let us please emphasise the importance of collaboration over isolation.