Women ' s Land Army The Women ' s Land Army ( WLA ) was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military . Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls . The name Women ' s Land Army was also used in the United States for an organisation formerly called the Woman ' s Land Army of America . In effect the Land Army operated to place women with farms that needed workers , the farmers being their employers . First World War . The Board of Agriculture organised the Land Army during the Great War , starting activities in 1915 . Towards the end of 1917 there were over 250 , 000 - 260 , 000 women working as farm labourers , with 20 , 000 in the land army itself . With 3 million men away to fight in the First World War Britain was struggling for labour . The government wanted women to get more involved in the production of food and do their part to support the war effort . This was the beginning of the Women ’ s Land Army . Many traditional farmers were against this so the board of trade sent agricultural organisers to speak with farmers to encourage them to accept women ’ s work on the farms . Second World War . As the prospect of war became increasingly likely , the government wanted to increase the amount of food grown within Britain . In order to grow more food , more help was needed on the farms and so the government started the Women ' s Land Army in June 1939 . The majority of the Land Girls already lived in the countryside but more than a third came from London and the industrial cities of the north of England . In the Second World War , though under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries , it was given an honorary head - Lady Denman . At first it asked for volunteers . This was supplemented by conscription , so that by 1944 it had over 80 , 000 members . The WLA lasted until its official disbandment on 21 October 1949 . In popular culture . The Women ' s Land Army was the subject of the Angela Huth book " Land Girls " ( 1995 ) and a film loosely based on the book , " The Land Girls " ( 1998 ) , as well as the ITV sitcom " Backs to the Land " ( 1977 – 78 ) and the BBC dramatic series " Land Girls " ( 2009 – 11 ) . It also figured largely in a 2004 episode of the ITV detective series " Foyle ' s War " , entitled " They Fought in the Fields " . In the detective novel " A Presumption of Death " , taking place in the early days of World War II , the plot centers on Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey trying to solve the murder of a land girl who had come to work at a village in Hertfordshire . Influence . During World War II the Women ' s Land Army of America was formed in the United States as part of the Emergency Farm Labor Service , lasting from 1943 to 1947 , and the Australian Women ' s Land Army was formed in Australia , lasting from 27 July 1942 until 1945 . Recognition . In December 2007 , the Department for Environment , Food and Rural Affairs ( DEFRA ) announced that the efforts of the surviving members of the Women ' s Land Army and the Women ' s Timber Corps would be formally recognised with the presentation of a specially designed commemorative badge . The badge of honour was awarded in July 2008 to over 45 , 000 former Land Girls .