British Newspapers as a Source for Research on the Women’s Service in the Royal Armed Forces During the World WAR II

The aim of the work is to analyse the contents of British newspapers during the World War II and to highlight blocks of information that can be used in the study of women's service in the His Majesty's Armed Forces. The methodology of research includes methods of analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, analogy, comparison and generalization, content-analysis. The latter made it possible to analyse in a social context the qualitative and quantitative content of newspaper materials, to identify a number of facts and trends concerning the problem of the presence of British women in the army. We also used a gender approach during analysing the specifi cs of public discourse on women in military. It gave an idea on the gender roles that existed at that time in British society. Scientifi c novelty. Newspapers as a source for research on women's service in the British Armed Forces are the subject of a separate academic study for the fi rst time. A number of materials from British periodicals of 1939–1945 for the fi rst time were introduced into scientifi c circulation, which makes it possible to trace fully the main trends in the activities of women on the service in the His Majesty's Armed Forces during the war, their way of life, etc. Conclusions. British newspapers are an important source for research on the service of women in the His Majesty's Armed Forces, as well as the peculiarities of public discourse concerning it and the gender policy of the government of that time. Active digitization and granting access to broad layers of British periodicals made it possible to analyse these important primary sources remotely and with the use of modern means of targeted search for the necessary information in them. One can get the information on the recruitment of British women to the army; conditions of their service in various organizations; features of the state's propaganda campaign aimed at attracting as many British women as possible to serve in the armed forces, etc. Based on the information from the newspapers' articles, it is possible to form partially a picture of the peculiarities of public discourse on servicewomen, which was very ambiguous, as along as with emphasizing the importance of the work of members of the three women's services, discussions were held on the attractiveness of their form and appearance in general, etc. In addition, based on the analysis of the content and frequency of publications, one can admit the growing importance of the role of military women as the military confl ict unfolds, expanding their positions and increasing the responsibility of those who held them, society's attitude to changes in organisation of women's service.