Employment opportunities for women during the First World War In Britain, before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, employment opportunities for women they were quite limited. Although nearly 6 million women worked, about 25 percent of the country's female population, the type of work they could do was limited. Women could easily find work but were not treated equally to men. In the factories they were paid less, did not hold positions of responsibility, were rarely promoted and often had to deal with the prejudices of men. They were thought to be less intelligent and less capable than men. They also had few rights and no votes, so it was difficult to change things. Of the working women, approximately 1.5 million worked in domestic service. Another million worked in the factories of the textile industry, and half a million or more in the factories of the so-called "sweated trades". Some women worked in shops and offices. Domestic service was one of the few jobs that employed women in large numbers, employing one in eight people. Domestic service attracted many girls because it was a job that did not require a high level of education, and at that time the minimum school leaving age was 12. Where parents might encourage boys to stay in school, they rarely did so for girls. So, most of the girls who left school at that age and looked for work, were not well educated and went straight into menial jobs like domestic service as there was not much other choice for them. Servants worked as servants for the rich and middle classes, often in poor conditions and it was almost impossible for them to do anything about it. They worked very long hours as cleaners or maids and lived in the attics of the houses where they worked. The pay was often very low, ranging from £5 to £10 a year. They only had half a day off a week and some didn't even have half a day. The textile industry was another major employer of women; it had been