The Role of Women in Agriculture

As increasing numbers of men left work to enlist in the forces, the Government set up a Central Advisory Committee for Women's Employment to plan and implement the recruitment of women to fill the gaps. Where possible, women were encouraged to act as substitute labour. In time they were working in hospitals, on the land or in factories.

Records show that considerable government research and planning went into providing women with the necessary training and equipment. The table below shows how much money was allocated to supply suitable clothing for agricultural work.

Background to the impact of the Great War on Scotland.

Estimate of expenditure to supply women with suitable clothes for agricultural work in Scotland
Photograph of two women shovelling potatoes
Photograph of a woman sharpening a scythe

As the war progressed, the Government realised that more had to be done to persuade employers to take on female labour to meet the growing demand for raw materials and 'articles of war'. In 1916, they published a booklet called Women's War Work designed to show that women could do a wide range of jobs previously done by men alone.

Women shovelling potatoes

(National Records of Scotland reference: HH31/27/51/3)

Woman sharpening a scythe

(National Records of Scotland reference: HH31/27/51/3)