The Woman’s Land Army

The WLA was set up during the Great War starting in 1915. With over 3 million men away at war, there was a huge gap in farm workers. The government needed woman to man the farms to produce food and do their part in the war. The woman replaced the men who were in the military and did their jobs. By the end of 1917 there was over 250000 working as farm labourers. Women who worked for the WLA were often known as Land Gals.  

The jobs the WLA did were to make a farm function as normal so such as: threshing, ploughing, tractor driving, reclaiming land, drainage etc. The normal wage for someone over 18 and in the WLA was £1.12 per week as deductions had been made for lodgings and food. All WLA workers who worked over 20 miles from their home were granted a free rail warrant to visit home every 6 months.  However as the pay came from the farm owners themselves, many were often underpaid as they were over charged for lodgings and food.