In 1914 at the outbreak of World War One there was nearly 5.9 million women working in Britain out of a total female population of 23.7 million. This may not seem much but compared to what it was in the 1800's it was a big improvement.
During the 1800's and early 1900's there were many different social classes present in Britain. There were the upper class women, who were considered to be too respectful to work, and if they did it was assumed that their husbands were not rich enough to support the family. Most didn't even have to do the work at home as they had people to do it for them. This made them increasingly dissatisfied and idle and as time went on they wanted to be given the opportunity to work and make a difference to society. Next there were the working class women, who had always made up a significant part of the workforce in the nineteenth century. Not only did they have to do the housewife duties of cooking, cleaning and motherly chores but also go out and earn the money for the family undertaking jobs such as domestic servants, mill workers, as well as working on farms or shops if the wives of farmers and shop owners. It was hard for them as people still expected them not to be working. .
With 1,740,800 women working as domestic servants by 1914 it was the most common job. This involved doing jobs such as cooking and cleaning for a household, usually of an upper class family and in many cases it was hard work. Many lived in the attics of the houses they were working in, and were paid very badly for long days, some even as little as 5 to 10 pounds a year for 12 hour days every day. .
Another industry that had a great many women working for it was the "sweated trades", maybe even as many as 950,000. The "sweated trades" were businesses where women were made to all sit together in a stuffy room with no windows thus causing sweat and an all round uncomfortable time. The worst examples of such industries were clothing and dressmaking where women worked in workshops in the houses of their employers.
