A woman munitions worker carrying a shell apparently drops another one on the foot of a frightened man who clearly does not realize, as she does, that they are not in danger. No doubt his foot hurt.
La Femme et la Guerre.Leroy - Aux munitions.Women and the WarTo the munitions.Signed: FFLeroy?Reverse:No. 139 - P, J. Gallais et Cie, éditeurs, 38, Rue Vignon.Paris, Visé no. 139.No. 139 - P, J. Gallais and Company, publishers, 38 Rue Vignon.
"Our women munition workers out to be proud! Mr Lloyd George has brought out a picture book about them! It is a large, handsome book, costing 1s, entirely of pictures of women workers and all the processes they can do. According to Mr Lloyd George, never was there such useful workers as women munition workers. He says they can do bronzing and soldering, they can make 8-pounder shells, and some of them are very successful in making high explosive shells.Well, it is very nice to be praised by so important a man, and it is even nicer that he should take the trouble to have a book filled with pictures of girls at work. We women, however, have always had a lurking suspicion that we were, after all, as clever as the men, and it is pleasant to hear Mr Lloyd George say so. But there is a conclusion to be drawn from all this. If girls are as important and as clever as the men, then they are as valuable to the employer. If this is so it becomes the duty of girls to see, now and always, whether on government work or not, that they receive the same pay as men."
An excerpt From Women Worker, February 1916. David Lloyd George was appointed to the newly-created position of Minister of Munitions in May, 1915 in the political crisis of the shell shortage.
The Virago Book of Women and the Great War by Joyce Marlow, Editor, pp. 172, 173, copyright © Joyce Marlow 1998, publisher: Virago Press, publication date: 1999
1916-02-11, 1916, February, women, woman, women workers, munitions, Lloyd George, David Lloyd George
