Female machinist at United Steel, Sheffield, 1947.

Female worker at her lathe cutting frames for umbrellas. at United Steel in Sheffield. Women were recruited during the war to stem a severe shortage of labour but many stayed on during post war reconstruction. United Steel was one of Britain's largest steel plants and a major contributor to Sheffield's reputation as a world producer of steel when the city had a virtual monopoly on the manaufacture of high quality cutlery and tools. Photograph by Walter Nurnberg, who transformed industrial photography after WWII by using film studio lighting techniques.