War Work of Women in India

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 223, 20 September 1943, Page 8

War Work of Women in India

NEW DELHI (India). | Age-old barriers of caste and creed , have been broken down as Indian I women have become active in all branches of war service. The Women’s Auxiliary Corps of India, which was started in March, 1942, achieved a strength of 5000 members by the beginning of April, 3943, and provides skilled women to replace men at such jobs as military clerks, switchboard operators, plotters in the Ob server Corps and drivers of official cars. Members of all races and castes are represented in this national organi- i sation. In another branch of the armed forces a number of women doctors have been commissioned in the Indian Medical Service. The most famous of the nursing services is the St. John Ambulance , Brigade, mobile units of volunteers, which move to areas where transportation of sick and wounded is necessary or where evacuation must be quickly | carried out and medical aid administered. j Civilian women throughout India are I working ip. the various branches of -the Ked Cross, preparing packages for the troops, assisting in the communications between servicemen and their families, performing civilian defence duties, and doing local social service and relief , work. I Mobile canteens, first-aid units, and entertainment groups have been organised to care for the sick in isolated districts and to help the convalescing patients in the Army hospitals. Occupational Therapy • An interesting aspect of the treatment of convalescent soldiers is the use of occupational therapy, a technique widely used in the present war. The native handworks and crafts in India offer perfect instruments for this technique. Women who are working in the hospitals teach the patients weaving, rug-making, cane work, and embroidery )■ —all of the crafts involving dexterity of the fingers and a fundamental concentration which many of the wounded soldiers-have lost or forgotten. The Women’s Voluntary Services are as active in India as in other countries. .They operate canteens, help with the ! placing of women in war jobs, and act as recruiting officers for blood donors and nurses’ aides. In the evacuation of civilians from Burma, women of the W.V.B. were instrumental in the allocation and housing of the refugees, and supplied clothing and food for them. Women of high social standing have also become “women military welfare workers” members of a volunteer organisation which is concerned with civilian morale. These women visit the families of men on the fighting fronts, try to interest them in war work, encourage them to write frequently to relatives overseas, adjust grievances which the war has produced, and contradict false rumours, substituting correct information.