Working for Victory

Book excerpt: During the Second World War over 1.5 million of women found themselves thrust into a male working world, having to learn new skills within a matter of weeks. Their contribution to the war effort often remains unheralded, but it is without doubt that these women played a central role in an Allied victory. Kathleen Church-Bliss and Elsie Whiteman were two such women, who volunteered for war work and after a training course in engineering found themselves in an aircraft components factory. Thrown into a whole new world of industrial work, they kept a joint diary providing a unique insight into life in a wartime factory. It tells the tale of the poor conditions suffered on the factory floor, as well as the general disorganisation and bad management of this essential part of the war effort. They also describe how war work opened up a whole new world of social freedom for many women. This diary, tragic and humorous, brings women's war work vividly to life.