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Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press, 2001. 200 pp. Index. $24.95 (paper), ISBN 1-8694-0244-8.
Questioning the Real Role of New Zealand Women in the Second World War
New Zealand is uniquely situated for a gender case study. Geographically it is isolated, Pacific islands far removed from the British origins of the population, which signed The Treaty of Waitangi with Maori Chieftains in 1840. Such a tyranny of distance from the "motherland" resulted in a loyalty to the British Empire not evidenced elsewhere. It was New Zealand, which, proportional to population, suffered the worst Allied casualty rates of World War I. The sacrifice made by its servicemen resulted in a military legend New Zealand was proud of and future generations emulated. When Great Britain declared war on Germany for a second time, in 1939, New Zealanders again answered the call to arms with alacrity. Again, young men in their prime were dispatched in increasing numbers to fight yet another war in another hemisphere. As the war effort expanded, more and more of those living in New Zealand became involved. It is here that Deborah Montgomerie takes up her study, offering a treatise on what effect this Second World War had on women and the gender balance of labour, or as the first sentence of the book puts it: "The Second World War raised a barrage of questions about the role of women in New Zealand society."
There have been several examinations of the role women played in various nations during the world wars but this is the first comprehensive analysis of the New Zealand experience. New Zealand was the first nation to allow women to vote, in 1893. One could assume that such social enlightenment would augment progressive gender relations prior to 1939 and certainly during the 1939-1945 war. But was this the case? Certainly as the wartime manpower shortage worsened, employers, both...