Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER
How dangerous was it being a munitionette?
SHORT ANSWER Very. They – mostly women– worked with explosives and chemicals that damaged their insides and turned their skin yellow…
LONG ANSWER With the men off fighting and a shortage of shells, women entered the workforce during World War I. For the approximately one million women in the munitions factories by 1918, making 80 per cent of the ammunition used by the British army, this meant dirty and dangerous work, long hours, unequal pay and hostile attitudes about women taking typically men’s jobs. To make TNT and cordite, munitionettes worked with hazardous chemicals with little protection. This could result in not only their skin turning yellow – earning them the nickname ‘canary girls’ – but the skin of their children, albeit temporarily. Worse still, the chemicals caused nausea, headaches, vomiting and breathing difficulties, while also attacking the immune system, making workers vulnerable to anaemia or organ damage.
Of course, making shells was inherently risky. Deadly explosions occurred at several factories, the worst being at Barnbow in Leeds, Silvertown in Essex and the National Shell Filling Factory in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire, in 1918, the latter killing 134 munitions workers.
For many women, though, the risks were deemed worthwhile, as the work was performed in the name of patriotic duty. Their efforts also helped to advance of women’s rights – their war work helped see some women finally given the vote in 1918.
