Women, science and suffrage in World War I

Abstract

Oh! This War! How it is tearing down walls and barriers, and battering in fast shut doors … Women's Liberal Review , 1915 World War I is often said to have benefited British women by giving them the vote and by enabling them to take on traditionally male roles, including ones in science, engineering and medicine. In reality, conventional hierarchies were rapidly re-established after the Armistice. Concentrating mainly on a small group of well-qualified scientific and medical women, marginalized at the time and also in the secondary literature, I review the attitudes they experienced and the work they undertook during and immediately after the war. The effects of century-old prejudices are still felt today.