A Girl and Her History Books

Women in the late 30's and early 40's found themselves in a unique position. Because men off were fighting in the War, women found themselves needing to contribute like never before in history. One particular occupation that was common in Great Britain during the War was the Women’s Land Army. A division of the Women's Land Army was established in America during World War II and known as The Woman's Land Army Of America from 1943 -1947. The Woman's Land Army in Britain and Whales was an important agricultural resource during World War I and World War II. Original established in England and Wales during the first World War to help keep food on the plates of British civilians while the men were away serving in the war the Land Girls, as they were best known would work the fields of big and small estates around the countryside's of Britain. Women would work 50 hours a days 5 1/2 days a week. Women wanting to join the Women's Land Army were interviewed and given medical examinations in order to qualify. Most of the women working on the farms came from cities and industrial areas of England and Wales, and they were mostly single an between the ages of 20 and 30. Farmers preferred young female workers to work their farms.

Even though the Women’s Land Army was not a military force they, still were required to wear uniforms comprised of brown corduroy, brown brogues (brown shoes), fawn knee-length woolen socks, green V-neck pullovers, a fawn shirt, a brown cowboy style hat and badges depicting a wheat sheaf which was the symbol of their agricultural work. Common jobs consisted of lambing, milking cows, digging ditches, gathering crops, ploughing, managing poultry, catching rats, and carrying out other farm maintenance work. Another form of occupation Land Girls attended to was Timber Corps, which was comprised of chopping down trees and running sawmills. Most of the women were untrained and so they learned by trial and error. Wages were paid weekly by the farmers themselves, not directly by the state. Because of this, wages were not always properly distributed in the appropriate amount designated for the girls. Each district had its own representative who was in charge of ensuring that the Land Girls were being treated fairly well and that they were working effectively. With the boys back home from the war jobs were in high demand and the men were reengaged into their former roles in the fields, so without the need of its services, The Women’s Land Army program was discontinued in 1950. While the job of a land girl was not always the most glamorous, many of the women stated that they would not have changed their experiences during that time, and that through it all they formed lifelong friendships.