Minding Children or Minding Machines... Women's Labour and Child Care during World War II

Abstract

The distinction between women's 'public' and 'private' work is an important one, and it is only by comprehending the significance of the private work of women that one is able fully to make sense of the nature and limitations of their public work. These limitations become particularly apparent during a period such as the one under consideration, when attempts to modify the nature of public work encounter directly the constraints related to the private sphere. It is helpful in examining women's public work in Australia during the war-time period to follow Kramar's1 division of the period into three phases. The first, lasting from the beginning of the war in September 1939 to the entry of Japan in December 1941; the second, from the end of 1941 to late 1943; and the final stage, from late 1943 until the Japanese surrender in September 1945. During the first phase, from the beginning of the war until the bombing of Pearl Harbour by the Japanese, Australian governments sought to assist the Allied war effort in Europe and the Middle East and to build up the national economy. This entailed an expansion of munitions production, the raising of armed forces, and the maintenance of production for civilian consumption. The strong demand for labour during this period was met by transfers between sectors of the labour market and by the absorption of large numbers of previously unemployed men and women. There was no absolute labour shortage, although a shortage of skilled labour quickly developed. It seems that, during this initial phase of the war, women's enthusiasm for work exceeded the enthusiasm with which it was greeted. There are indications, though, that by mid-1941 the government had begun to give some serious consideration to the employment of women. A departmental report to the Minister for Labour and National Service concluded by observing that the absorption of women into the workforce had not, as yet, proceeded very far, and that the main difficulty in the employment of women was the legal barrier to their employment in many occupations. It also noted that there had been considerable transfers of women from 'non-essential' work, especially domestic service, to munitions and other 'essential' work. In this early stage of the war, then, women appear to have been mainly taken up in the expansion of war-related industries and civil production, rather than replacing the male workforce to any great degree. The female workforce was also clearly the subject of categorisation relating to marital status. In April 1941, when newspaper articles appeared telling of the urgent need for women to work in munitions factories, Mrs Dorothy Cronin wrote to the Minister for Labour and National Service protesting that she and other married women employed in one such factory had, three months previously, been given the choice of resigning within 48 hours or being escorted off the premises by the