This chapter examines the release scheme for the women’s forces and the steps taken to help prepare servicewomen for re-entry into civilian life. It also recounts the deliberations within the service ministries leading up to the inauguration of the permanent women’s services in 1949. These, for the first time, afforded women an opportunity to forge a career with the British armed forces.

This chapter focuses on the mobilisation of women for the war effort through nursing services, auxiliary military services, and a broad range of voluntary local activity on the home front such as knitting garments, preparing parcels of comforts for soldiers, and collecting sphagnum moss for bandages and surgical supplies. Following an analysis of Irish membership of the British Red Cross, the chapter argues that the extent of voluntary engagement with the war effort in Ireland was more extensive than typically realised and that it involved women from a diverse mix of social class and religious backgrounds. The impact of religious and political tensions is explored, noting the continued support for the war effort after the 1916 rebellion. Comparison is drawn between the response of Ulster unionist communities to the war effort and that of rest of Ireland, demonstrating that the war deepened the polarisation of unionist and nationalist identities.The chapter attempts to untangle the motivations of women to participate in the war effort, and to understand the impact of their wartime service on their lives.