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New Zealand Women and the war

© Philippa Jane Ballantine

My grandmother always had stories to tell of life during World War Two. Unlike my grandfather who would never tell anything but light hearted jokes of his time in the Pacific, she was willing to tell about her days in Wellington. I always knew there were terrible reasons for my grandfather's silence, but was never willing to try and break it. But the experiences of the women at that time I did get some insight into. My grandmother was a young women from the South Island, when she was Manpowered into the Post Office. It made me realise how grim things had become. Women had been forced to move beyond their traditional roles, but only when I researched further, did real respect for the women living through those times emerge.

Compared to the civilians suffering under the Blitz in London, the women of New Zealand were very lucky. Still they had seen sons, brothers, fathers and husbands being shipped off to foreign lands, never knowing if they might not return. And the departure of so many men also meant more practical problems; who was going to run the machines of industry, bring in the crops, and keep the war effort going?

It was an amazing thing to imagine how quickly, and enthusiastically the women took to the tasks left behind. New Zealand was the first nation to give women the vote, but they still found many employment avenues blocked to them, but after the War things would have to begin changing. Women had their first taste of working life, and they liked it.

But they still had charity, and a social spirit shown in the way they responded to others needs. Some sort of empathy must have been felt for those women in London bombed out of their homes, because soon women all over New Zealand were setting to, and making clothes to be sent there. They collected old clothes, and with skilful cutting and mending, unlikely to be found in modern society, produced all sorts of sensible warm clothing. Particular emphasis was put on providing for the children. Within two months more than a hundred tonnes of clothing was on its way to London.

But there were other things they could do closer to home. In their midst there were those far from what they called home, and probably desperately unsure of their fate. These service men, mostly Americans probably thought New Zealand was utterly lacking in civilisation; the movies didn’t run on Sundays, the rest of town was completely closed then too, and of course there were no hamburgers to be had. But then, that must have been made up in some part by the hospitality of the people. Many took servicemen into their homes to stay while on leave, or took them in for dinner. And of course there was always dancing, organised by such social clubs as the Spinsters or the Cinderellas. It was a nice change for the women too, for their social lives were pretty barren since most of the men left. Of course there were probably as many scuffles as marriages- but like any other group of young men, some were courteous and some were not.

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