This loss of labour was crippling to the British Economy, and the English Government knew they had two million fewer workers than were required to meet the requirements of the country, and so, rather out of necessity than choice, more and more employers began training and recruiting women, and by the end of the war in 1918, the number of women employed in Britain had soared, as shown in Source 2. Here the rise in women's employment throughout the different sectors of the British Economy is clear, and this is incredibly useful in seeing just how big a part, women played in the war effort. In my opinion it is a very reliable source and one that is very useful to historians. It is official government research data, comparing employment levels from before the war and after the war, and was likely created very soon after the end of the war. Its primary purpose would be as a record of women's employment levels to inform bureaucracy, and also the government of the changing trends in the employment of women. As it is purely quantitative data, was created after the war, and given its creator and purpose, I think it is very unlikely that the figures will have been skewed for propaganda purposes, as there would no longer be any requirements for that in its contemporary context. I would also take this to mean that there is very little chance if bias. In my opinion Source 2 is an invaluable source in assessing how the lives of women were affected in WW1, as it not only shows that it opened up the opportunity of employment to millions more women, but also that women were no longer confined to just the 'women's' domestic service. As more and more men went to war, women had more freedom of job choice, and were able to work in positions that would have before been viewed as the sole territory of males.

Women now found themselves able to, and even encouraged to, take on these positions, as shown in the poster in Source 4. The poster depicts a woman ploughing her fields, and preparing the farm. In the poster the sun is rising which is likely to imply a new dawn for women, and the start of a new era of freedom and equality for women. The source was created by the government in 1917, as a Propaganda poster, the primary purpose of which would have been to motivate and inspire women to enrol in women's Land as part of a recruitment drive. This is a very useful source, as it displays very clearly just how keen the government was to get women into employment to keep the country going, and how big a part the women played in the war effort. Before the war, the suffragettes had been desperately campaigning against the government, for equality between men and women, and for the freedom and rights of women, but their successes were fairly limited. Now three years later, women found themselves being actively encouraged to take the positions of men, and given the freedom, and the opportunity to prove they deserved the equality, that they had been fighting so hard for. While the messages with-in this poster may have been subject to exaggeration due to the propagandised nature of the source, I think this is a highly valuable and trustworthy source in assessing how the lives of women were affected by World War One.