Mrs. John Bull Prepared

The division of labor between the sexes changed fundamentally during World War I. Women replaced male workers in almost every field, allowing the men to be put into action at the front. The women's rights movement used this development as a springboard for radical change in women's position in society. Now, women were doing jobs that had been unthinkable before the war. They were working as mail carriers, ticket collectors on public transportation, railway employees and members of the auxiliary police force. Even in traditionally all-male industries – such as the blast furnaces, mining, and the machine, metal, electricity and chemical industries – the number of female employees greatly increased. This film presents a conflict situation concerning this changing female role in an average family. It features documentary footage of the new division of labor within the framework of a fictional narrative about Smith, a businessman who, after sleeping for four years, awakens to find himself in a new world.