The return of prisoners of war followed by the gradual demobilization of the 5 million French soldiers required most women to return to their pre-war roles.
While women contributed greatly to the war effort, the female staff of industry and commerce only exceeded pre-war levels by 20% : slightly more than a third of the working-age population. The demobilization of women illustrated the desire to get back to normal.
After the war, the access of women to the tertiary sector expanded, beyond the professions traditionally entrusted to them such as that of schoolmistresses or nurses. The expansion of France’s baccalaureate to women from 1924 opened up access to higher education and more qualified jobs. Campaigns for women’s suffrage resumed in France but were unsuccessful, unlike in the United Kingdom and the United States where the vote was granted in 1918 and 1919, respectively.
In the aftermath of the war, women were thus not totally empowered, even if the process had begun. The most visible sign was probably the boyish “garçonne” style that symbolized at the least women’s new aspirations, if not reality.
In 1919, 19 countries granted total or partial suffrage to women. In France, campaigners had set aside their demands for voting equality during the national “sacred union”. Bills were put forward, all for partial suffrage, like that proposing the vote for war widows. The right remained committed to a traditional vision of women’s role, outside politics, while the left was afraid of women having conservative voting tendencies. Women were only granted suffrage in 1944, and voted for the first time in 1945.
This exhibition ties in with the general visitor trail of the Great War Museum which looks at the First World War from a societal point of view and addresses the role of women during the war in its permanent exhibition.