Women's Response to Crisis

Mobilization transformed women's roles overnight. With men gone, women assumed unprecedented responsibilities. In rural areas, they managed farms, learning to handle plows and make decisions previously reserved for men. The 1914 harvest, gathered primarily by women, children, and elderly, proved crucial for national survival.

Urban women entered factories, transportation, and services. Marguerite Bourat, a Parisian seamstress, found herself operating a lathe in the Renault factory: "They showed us once, then expected production. We learned through necessity. My delicate hands that once embroidered became strong enough to shape steel."

Middle and upper-class women mobilized differently. The Union des Femmes de France transformed from charitable organization to major medical service, operating hospitals and convalescent homes. Aristocratic women like the Duchess de La Rochefoucauld converted châteaux into hospitals, personally tending wounded regardless of class origin.