We'll assume you mean in Great Britain, because the US was in the was for such a short time it didn't really have any effect on the people who stayed home.
In Britain, however, there were serious shortages of almost everything. Rationing was very, very strict and quantities of things like sugar, butter, tea, meat etc. were very limited. But there were social consequences as well. In the time of the first world war, any able bodied man, or any man who appeared to be able bodied, was expected to join up. Those who did not were given a white feather - a symbol of cowardice. Too often, the person who was given such a symbol had a serious reason why they had not joined up - a medical condition, an essential service job, or other reasons. But the tenor of the times was such that people didn't bother to ask questions, just slipped a white feather to the 'offending' male. Sadly, it often resulted in suicides as people were ashamed to be seen in the context of a coward.How far did life change for the people who stayed at home in the first world war?
It radically reduced their chances of being killed by bullets, shells, gas or other armaments, or drowning in the mud (The latter was the leading cause of death during WW1).How far did life change for the people who stayed at home in the first world war?
Depends a lot on which country you are taking about. Also which social groups (women? workers? the rich? Blacks?).
Here are a couple of useful sites:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/hom
http://www.teacheroz.com/wwi.htmhomefroHow far did life change for the people who stayed at home in the first world war?
Women had to do all the jobs the men did before the war.How far did life change for the people who stayed at home in the first world war?
In the UK, a lot of women took on jobs that had previously been done by men. They joined the police force, worked on the railways, and in farming and forestry, and became postwomen and chauffeurs. They took over jobs in offices and banks. some worked in intelligence. A lot went to work in factories.
There was a shortage of servants, because a lot of domestic servants left their jobs to go and work in munitions factories. People had to cope with rationing, and there was a shortage of many kinds of food.
There were air raids by Zeppelins, which must have been very frightening, as nothing like that had ever occured before.
