1-192-515 - © London Museum/Heritage-Images

Women making bullets, May 1915. A Union Jack hangs from each machine. A pile of bullets can be seen at the feet of the woman at the front of the photograph. The camaraderie and high wages of between £3 and £5 a week helped make the very long hours in the munitions industry more tolerable. For those women who had been domestic servants before the war, earning £18 a year, the attractions of munitions work were obvious. The film industry made hundreds of short films extolling the hard work of women like these and encouraging others 'to do their bit' for the war effort.