ON JULY 9, 2005, after a long campaign headed by Baroness Betty Boothroyd, the Queen unveiled a bronze memorial near the Cenotaph in Whitehall, commemorating the role played by seven million women during World War II.

The 22ft high bronze monument was designed by John Mills and it depicts the various specialist uniforms worn by women during the war. These have been hung on pegs, as if the women had simply replaced them and then returned to work as ordinary civilians.

When war broke out, suddenly a woman's place was no longer in the home. Patriotic posters urged them to take up the physical kind of work in the aircraft factories and on the farms, which previously had been performed by men. In contrast, much of the work in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), Women's Royal Naval Service (WRENS) was administrative, although many worked as drivers and cooks.

Some of the WRENS operated harbour launches and the ATS manned anti-aircraft batteries. Other women served as flight mechanics and nurses. The Royal Navy used its WRENS to train crews in the operation of radar. During the Battle of Britain, the courage of these women under air attack won national admiration.

The largest of all the women's services, the WVS, was designed to prepare for the disruption and casualties of massive air raids and evacuation schemes.

Never say no! was the WVS watchword. Their volunteers organised scrap collection campaigns and knitting parties to repair soldiers' socks. They drove ambulances and mobile canteens through the bombed out remains of Britain's cities.

The quantity of clothes and food distributed through the WVS was enormous. Volunteers controlled the unloading of ships' cargoes, distributing them to sorting centres in the country and handed out parcels to those in need. Other major services included the auxiliary nursing and fire services. Many older and married women returned to nursing, devoting familiar skills to completely new situations.

In the words of Baroness Boothroyd, "It has taken us 60 years to honour the women of the Second World War. There can be no finer site for our memorial than at the heart of our democracy, nor, amid new dangers, can there be a finer display of our nation's pride with our Queen among us."

"We did not waver then. We shall not flinch now! No country had ever demanded so much of its women. Over seven million women were mobilised, more than 450,000 were conscripted into the Forces, and nearly half a million served in the civil defence and the emergency forces. Women did whatever was needed and wherever it was needed."