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In 1917 the Army Service Corps advertised for 鈥榣ady drivers鈥�. The freedom of the open road gave some women a new lease of life but there was no lasting equality behind the wheel - the end of the war saw men back in the driving-seat.

Elizabeth Lee was among a select few to be taken on for a month鈥檚 army trial. She recalls that male colleagues often sabotaged her car: 鈥渢hey cut a petrol pipe half-through and emptied the oil out of your lamps.鈥� She says male resentment was fuelled by the prospect of leaving a 鈥渃ushy job鈥� for deployment overseas.

Elizabeth Lee relished her wartime freedom at Wareham Camp and across the South coast. But after the war she found herself back living with her parents. Many women experienced a similar return to the domestic realm. The fact that the majority remained as maids and housewives during the war rather than serving as land girls and munitionettes may help to explain why advances in gender equality were so limited.

Location: Wareham Camp BH20 4RN
Image: Imperial War Museums Q2454 - photo shows women of the British Red Cross Society, Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) ambulance drivers, Etaples, 27th June 1917. The ambulance was presented by the Owners and Workmen of the Royal Forest of Dean Coalfield.

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