The survival needs of Britain in Worlds War Two meant that every available pair of hands had to be put to useful purpose.  From land girls to factory hands to the uniformed services, the vast intake of women made possible what would otherwise have been beyond the country’s ability to produce.  Quite accidentally, it also produced an enormous shaking up the social norms of the time.  In 1939 Britain was still a highly stratified society with fixed roles for each class.  Working class girls had always worked: hardly surprising, the clue is in the name.  And the upper crust went about their lives as they always had, except that presentation at court was suspended for the duration.  Free from the need to earn a living they staffed canteen vans, drove ambulances and did an enormous number of volunteer roles many of which involved organising other people.  Being bossy was natural to them. In the middle was a large reservoir of young women who were educated, intelligent and strong, but whose expectation had been to stay at home, go to dances, play tennis, and wait for a man to propose to them.  Their lives were severely limited by convention and cautious parents keeping a close eye on them.  Suddenly this mass found themselves doing all sorts of things quite different to their genteel middle class upbringing.  Hallowed by the concept of ‘doing their bit’ in the country’s hour of need, they were able to slip the leash of their stifling  bounds which had constrained them until then. Very largely, they did so joyously and the fierce determination they brought to their new roles, of whatever sort surprised the male world of work to its roots.  Hidden behind their polite fronts was a deeper strength and  the steely backbone Britain brought to standing up to the onslaught from Germany had its base in this female population.  If it was digging potatoes. Addressing complex mental challenges in the secret services like Bletchley Park  or being brave in the face of immediate danger this suddenly liberated mass of women drove the wellspring which took Britain to victory. This process produced another fundamental change which affected men and women equally.  From a world where different classes barely spoke to each other, now they were all in the mix together and discovering that the other lot weren’t so bad after all.   Debs worked alongside factory girls.  A platoon of service people would have every class in its ranks and they had to pull together, co-operate and support each other to survive.  Despite a movement pressing women to go back to their housewifery, after the war it could never be said again that that was their only purpose in life.  From these beginnings the whole modern world emerged.