‘Women in War’ HA session 2019 resources

Here are the resources that were explained in the HA 2019 conference in Chester about ‘Women in War’.

The timeline thematic activity:

Women in war over time thematic

British women in war timeline

Activity using the memorial to the women of the British Empire who did in WW1

• Ask – who is remembered on World War One war memorials?
• Read Helen Little’s letter and tell the restoration story – Info here: 2019 Five sisters Restoration story and letter
• Using a map on screen of the British Empire in the 1920s (easily available online). “You are about to get a woman’s story (written and researched by students) and a post-it note. Read it, put her name on the top of the post-it and summarise her role and death in one or two sentences onto the post-it. Come and stick it onto the map wherever you think it should go .” The women’s stories are all here: Annette PrevostBertha StevensonConstance AddisonEdith BettisElizabeth Impey storyGertrude PowickeHelen CourtJessie Olive HockeyLorna Ferrislorna rattrayLouisa Blanche RiggallLouisa WoodcockMargaret CaswellMargaret LoweMarion Lapishmary carterMary Gartside-TippingNellie ClarkeNellie SpindlerViolet Barrett
• Questions:
  • What roles did women have who died as a result of WW1 and are on this memorial?
  • What caused their deaths?
  • Where did the come from?
  • What sort of women were they? (all classes, but very white!) What does this suggest about the women who were in a specific service in WW1?
  • Which women in war are not represented on this memorial? (mothers, carers, civilian dead from being in a war zone eg East Africa or from a zeppelin raid in York)
  • What is the limitation of using a war memorial for accessing the story of women in WW1 (only the dead – actually is similar for men too – and we need to watch this on battlefields tours!)
  • How is this deepening our understanding of women in the early 20thC – networked, organised, diverse…

Activity about the role of women in WW1 from a transnational perspective 

• Take an inference diagram* and work with it.
• Now pass them around and look at each others’ work (this could, of course be on the wall)
• What can we infer from the source collection as a whole?
• Which of these roles do you think would have continuity with 19thC women’s roles and which were driven by the necessities of war?
• What would you now like to know about WW1 Y9? (why not let an activity such as this drive a student led framing of the WW1 enquiry question they wish to pursue?)

2019 women WW1 sources as inference diagrams – *they are all here.

And go to the ‘slot-ins’ page of this site for Women in War ‘slot-ins’!