For International Women’s Day 2017, I dug through the archives for a glimpse of what the workplace was like for women a century ago, in 1917. Large numbers of women were involved in the war effort during World War I, volunteering, working as nurses or support, or working in traditionally male jobs back home. But women were also making strides in 1917, assuming government roles (the first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress), marching for the right to vote, even risking jail to teach others about safe birth control methods. This photo essay is paired with another: Women At Work in 2017, for a more global look at what the workplace is like for a woman today.
Women at Work in 1917
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Original caption: "Women are shown preparing to deliver various government packages. They are members of the National League for Women's Service, which is proving of great assistance to Uncle Sam in carrying on the Great War. Women are employed as drivers, ambulance drivers, messengers, etc. Captain A.B. Bayle is shown cranking the car, prior to making her rounds in New York." #
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Women from various backgrounds and experiences offering their services in support of World War I at the office of the New York City Women's Suffrage Party on 34th Street on March 30, 1917. #
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Original caption: "Springfield, Massachusetts - The Vassar College girls demonstrated their skill as farmers at the Eastern States Exposition and Dairy Show, which opened recently in Springfield, on October 16, 1917. One of the Vassar farmerettes is shown driving a heavy farm tractor." #
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Photojournalist Helen Johns Kirtland in a trench during World War I. She is wearing a helmet and great coat, and has a gas mask hanging around her neck. As a war correspondent, she covered many battles, photographing and reporting for a publication named Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly. #
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Original Caption: "Suffragettes who 'did their bit' in prison for picketing the White House pose in workhouse garb...Left to right, Miss Doris Stevens, Mrs. J.A. Hopkins, New Jersey Chairman of the National Women's Party, and Mrs. John W. Branna of New York, Chairman of the National Women's Party, wearing the rough clothing they wore while serving their sentence in the workhouse at Occuquan. The coarse uniform consists of underwear made of ticking, thick cotton socks, man's size shoes, with thick soles, and a wrapper and apron made of gingham, a string tied around the waist served as a corset. In the pocket of the apron were carried a comb and tooth brush." #
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Original Caption: "Maine's Only Woman Machinist Wears Overalls. in Portland, Maine: Miss Lillian Johnson has the distinction of being the only woman machinist in the state of Maine. Not satisfied with this distinction, she is likewise known as the only woman in the state who wears overalls at her work. She was born in Guttenberg, Sweden, 20 years ago. After studying bookkeeping for a time, she finally discovered her talents led her to machinery and now is considered one of the best in Portland. She is 5 feet, 4 inches in height, 39 bust, 39 hips, 20 waist and can lift 400 pounds. She is employed by the Raymond Machine Company at the Customs Wharf, Portland, Maine." #
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Representative Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to the United States Congress, photographed while in office, on February 28, 1917. Rankin ran for a House seat in Montana in 1916, won, and served as a member of the 65th Congress from 1917 to 1919. She later ran and won again, and served as a member of the 77th Congress from 1941 to 1943. #
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Mrs. Amos Pinchot and other women outside the Court of Special Sessions, in Brooklyn, during the trial of Margaret Sanger, indicted for her teachings on birth control. Sanger was instrumental in organizing groups that would later become what we know today as Planned Parenthood. #
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Original caption: "Suffragettes Aid Recruiters To Enlist Men for the Navy. Miss Frances E. Fitch one of the pretty suffragettes who aided in enlisting men for the Navy by placing Navy Posters in store windows." #
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Women in the motor corps of the National League of Women's Service taking the oath of allegiance at the 71st Regiment Armory, New York City, on May 29, 1917 during World War I. #
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Original caption: "British women's auxiliary force which may be used for many things behind the firing line, lined up for parade just before their departure for France, on August 26, 1917." #
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Original Caption: "The first of twenty-six American girls who have been selected for the hazardous work of driving one of the American ambulances in Russia. Miss Natalie Camp will soon start for her task at the front. She is anxious to go and has been soliciting funds for the ambulance service from the seat of the auto ambulance that is pictured with her. It is the one she intends to take to Russia with her." #
George Rinhart / Corbis via Getty
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