The Sword of Deborah: First-hand impressions of the British Women's Army in FranceJesse, F. Tennyson (Fryniwyd Tennyson)
History
The Sword of Deborah: First-hand impressions of the British Women's Army in France
Jesse, F. Tennyson (Fryniwyd Tennyson)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Women
The point as regards the Women's Army is that the whole of the agitation
against it is a libel, and one which decent people should be ashamed to
circulate even as supposititious. Quite apart from the evidence of my
own ears and eyes, at various camps I was supplied with the official
statistics for the Women's Army from March of 1917 to February of 1918.
And of these women who "have not been a success," as the mischievous
gossip has had it, how many do you think have proved failures out of six
thousand? In the time mentioned fourteen have been sent home for
incompetence, without any slur on their characters; twenty-three for
lack of discipline, mostly in the early days when the girls did not
realise what being in the Army meant and thought if they wanted to go to
any particular place there was no reason why they shouldn't; and fifteen
who were already _enceinte_ before leaving England and which even the
most censorious can hardly lay to the charge of the B.E.F. And of all
that six thousand what percentage do you suppose has had to be sent back
for what is euphemistically known, I believe, as "getting into trouble,"
since landing in France? No percentage at all, if I may express myself
thus unmathematically, but exactly five cases. Five, out of six
thousand. Compare that with the morality of any village in England, or
anywhere else in the world, and then say, if you dare to be so obviously
dishonest, that there is any reason why the Women's Army should be
aspersed.
These statistics were given to me at the office of the Area Controller,
and later repeated at the Women's Army H.Q. by the Controller in Chief,
but on that first sunny morning amongst the pines and pale golden
sand-dunes it was naturally the human and individual side rather than
any of figures, however startling, that claimed the mind the most. For
one thing, I had the actual organisation and attributes of the Women's
Army to learn. I knew nothing. The actual working knowledge, apart from
impressions and things learnt only by seeing them, that I gathered
during the days I spent at various Waac centres is as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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