Forbes India W-Power 2025: What to expect
What you have in your hands are profiles of 20 women who are no less in the impact they are creating, and not merely because they bring warmth and empathy to a place
Joseph Joffre, commander-in-chief of the French army during World War 1, became a symbol of French Resistance on the Western Front. According to history.com, Joffre was credited with formulating and implementing France’s military strategy, known as Plan XVII, which focussed on offensive attacks against Germany. He later faced criticism as casualties piled up and was removed as commander in 1916.
Much has been written on Joffre, including his own two-volume memoir. But why we recall him today is because of his enduring observation about the role of women in the first World War. “If the women in the factories stopped work for 20 minutes, the Allies would lose the war,” Joffre wrote.
He was exaggerating in pegging the downtime at 20 minutes, but he had good reason to extol the role of women in the war. Stories abound that, as men went to battlefronts, factories of the Allied Forces were kept running by women who worked as carpenters, welders, machinists, technicians, and in other so-called male jobs.
According to the website of Engineering and Technology (eandt.theiet.org), more than 30,000 women were recruited to handle explosives in 1916 at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, London. In a Scotland village, a factory was dubbed The Feminist Munition Factory, where women were making shells.
It is not only about war-time work; it is generally believed that women help improve sustainability, innovation, and cost efficiency. They work well across functions and teams, and are good mentors. A factory floor with enough women is more civil and warmer.
(This story appears in the 18 April, 2025 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
