In the midst of the War, women's branches of the armed services were developed, inclusive of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) and the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS). These organisations were non-combat jobs, enabling men to be free to fight at the front.
In the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) there were 57 000 women involved, 32 000 in the Women's Royal Air Force (WRAF) and 3 000 in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS). The Women's Defence Relief Corps was established and back by the authoritative Lord Kitchener and Lord Roberts, President of the Women's Rifle Association. This corps was constructed with two sections; the Civil Section, aimed to substitute women for men in employment in order to free men for military service, and the Semi-Military Section, in which women were actively recruited and commenced training in drill, marching, signalling and scouting, and were instructed in the use of arms. For many women in the Semi-Military section, their duty was perceived as persuading men that dishonour was worse than death, and then buckling on men's psychological (if not military) armour. 'Women served as magnifying mirrors 'reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. Without that power... the glories of all our wars would be unknown.' Such mirrors 'are essential to all violent and heroic action'.
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (1929) |