How did the tragedy of WWII provide an opportunity for the
advancement of workplace gender equality in Australia?
By Catherine Arens
Word count: 1998
World War II (1939-45), the deadliest of all human conflicts to date, was a dark event in
the world’s history, and Australians were not exempt from the sorrow and hardship it
brought. Women were especially affected, many having to run a busy household alone
whilst struggling to cope with the loss of husbands, brothers and sons. However, despite
the tragedies they faced, many triumphed over their adversities, seizing the new
opportunities the war provided them with enthusiasm. Due to the increasing demand for
soldiers to be stationed abroad as the war intensified, it became women’s responsibility to
take on traditional male roles in the workforce. A lack of military personnel on the home
front also saw the introduction of women’s auxiliary services, giving women the chance to
work as part of the Australian forces for the first time. Additionally, the Australian nurses
who served overseas during WWII proved to their country that not only men possessed the
strength and resilience necessary to work amidst the horrors of war. The capability with
which women performed new tasks across different sectors challenged the common
perception of ‘a lady’s work’, and is recognised as an advancement in the push for
workplace gender equality in Australia.
The success of women’s contribution to Australian society through their opportunity for
increased involvement in the workforce during WWII led people to question the
equitability of a woman’s, usually limited, role in society, and altered the general
Australian perception of a woman’s capabilities. Throughout history, the place of married
women in many cultures has been considered to be the home, taking care of domestic
duties and the children. Single mothers and unmarried women forced to work to earn a
living have for centuries been been restricted to a limited range of less skilled, ‘feminine’
professions. Even by WWII in Australia, one of the most developed nations in the world, a
female breadwinner was a rarity in any household. The work of a man was often
considered to be too difficult for a woman, both physically and mentally. It was also
commonly accepted that a female working in a man’s job was taking the job that a man
may need to support his family (State Library of Victoria 2016). However, upon Japan’s
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entry into the war in December 1941, the need for Australian troops to be stationed in the
Pacific suddenly increased, and the argument against women’s presence in the workforce
could no longer prevail. Between mid 1942 to mid 1943, participation of women in the
Australian workforce rose by 25% (The Courier Mail n.d). They were recruited into jobs
that had never been available to them before, including bus and taxi drivers, porters, train
and tram conductors, commerce, office and bank jobs, as well as working in very hands-on
munitions and weapons factories and operating large machines (McKernan, M 2014, p.
47).
It was not only urban areas that offered women new opportunities; plenty of empty jobs in
rural areas needed to be filled too. Numerous women, many with no previous experience,
contributed to the agricultural industry by picking up the work of departed farm workers
through a government-sponsored organisation called the Australian Women’s Land Army
(AWLA), established in 1942 (The Courier Mail n.d). Despite the labour-intensive nature
and long hours of farm work, women performed outstandingly. As well as providing food
for the Pacific campaign, they kept the huge Australian farming industry on its feet and
food on Australians’ tables throughout the war (State Library of Victoria 2016).
Whilst many welcomed this rise in female participation in the workforce, and it was widely
recognised that women performed excellently in the various roles they took on, it was not
without its critics. The Catholic Church disapproved of the departure from their traditional
views on a woman’s responsibilities. Male-dominated trade unions saw working women as
a threat to their own employment (McKernan, M 2014, p. 42). It also became apparent that
employers were rarely paying new female employees as much as their male counterparts
received, and so the seeds for a campaign for equal pay for Australian women, more
zealous than any before, were planted (Women in industry n.d). Australian Prime Minister
John Curtin, who held office for the majority of WWII and, unlike many in his own
government, supported the shifting role of women during the war, was among the first to
bring this issue to light. In 1943 he stated that (John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library
2005),
Woman has been able to assert a degree of economic independence never
previously attained. The home remains her citadel, but factory and workshop
have become her arena. I have done my best in the face of an age-old law to
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have women paid on their merits. I see no reason why a woman should be paid
less than a man for the same work.
Despite the opposition they received from some, women enjoyed the independence that
came with working, and the fact that they were doing more than just staying at home,
waiting for loved ones to return from war. Mary Miller, a union representative from a
munitions factory in Adelaide, SA, commented on this sense of service amongst her female
colleagues, stating that “…there was a feeling that you were contributing, you were part of
the war effort, and that was important,” (Women in industry n.d). This enthusiasm that
women brought to the workforce and their willingness to help Australia get through the
hardship of WWII proved beneficial for the companies and organisations that employed
them, keeping many of these businesses alive and thriving during this time, despite the
lack of available male workers.
The opportunity for women to become a part of Australian armed services and directly
contribute to the war effort in ways previously reserved for men was another reason that
WWII stimulated the advancement of workplace gender equality in Australia. Prior to the
commencement of fighting in the Pacific theatre of WWII, women had only been allowed
to contribute to the war effort as nurses or through government-approved organisations
such as the Australian Comforts Fund (ACF), whose women were commissioned to knit
items of clothing for soldiers. Some of these women felt frustrated by this, feeling that the
government had simply given them this relatively inessential, ‘womanly’ task to satisfy
their desire to be involved (Women on the home front n.d). Other organisations were
established by women keen to provide other women with skills that could prove useful
during the war, including The Women's Transport Corps, which taught women how to
drive a variety of vehicles, and The Women's Emergency Signalling Corps, which trained
women as Morse Code operators. Despite these women’s enthusiasm the government
initially refused to make use of them, deeming the skills they had acquired appropriate for
men only (Women on the home front n.d). However, as the demand for Australian soldiers
to fight overseas rose during 1940 and early 1941, the Australian government realised the
benefits that opening up positions in the armed forces to the thousands of willing
Australian women would bring for the country. These women could do some of the work of
soldiers on the home front, allowing them to join the fighting abroad (State Library of
Victoria 2016). Three new major women’s auxiliary services were established between
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April and August 1941; the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), the
Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) and the Australian Women's Army
Service (AWAS), all branches of existing armed services. This initiative marked the
beginning of women’s involvement in the armed forces (State Library of Victoria 2016).
Between them, these three services saw women work as mechanics, electricians,
telegraphists, electrical and chemical engineers, drivers of a range of vehicles and in areas
such as intelligence, chemical experimentation, signalling, ordnance, catering and
administration (McKernan, M 2014, p. 49).
The establishment of these services gave women the opportunity to gain new skills for the
first time, and allowed members of organisations like The Women’s Transport Corps and
Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps to finally put their new skills to practice (Women in
industry n.d). Women served in their positions with eagerness and competence, surprising
their higher-ranking male colleagues and challenging the preconceptions of many around
the country. Of these women, Australian historian, Anne Heywood, noted that, “Each one
according to her character and talents served Australia faithfully and well,” (Heywood, A
2009). Eventually, some members of the AWAS were even sent overseas, serving in Dutch
and Australian New Guinea. This marked the first time Australian women served in the
armed forces abroad in occupations other than nursing (Australian Government 2009).
Whilst nursing had already been considered a woman’s occupation for centuries, and
Australian nurses had served overseas in past wars, the trials, adversity and danger
experienced by some of the Australian nurses who served overseas during WWII were such
that had never been faced by their predecessors, with 71 losing their lives during active
service abroad. Those who survived these tribulations were living justification for the
necessity of workplace gender equality, having proved that women could be just as brave
and effective working amidst the testing conditions of war as men were (Australian
Government 2009).
Some of these nurses were the 59 among more than 2000 evacuees who escaped Singapore
on February 11, 1942, on board the Empire Star, following the humiliating defeat of the
British Empire troops based there. Despite wanting to stay behind and provide care at this
desperate time, it was considered too dangerous (Twomey, C 2009, pp. 670-684).
However, a chance for them to serve arrived the very next day, when their vessel was
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attacked by Japanese bombers for four hours, sustaining three direct hits, as well as fierce
machine gunning (Elphick, P 1995, pp. 67-68). Despite the terror and chaos on board,
these Australian nurses failed to abandon their roles of which they were so proud. They
moved the wounded to safety and tended to them efficiently, remaining calm and collected.
Many others were in awe of their courageous acts, including one of the ship’s stewards,
Eddie Green, who wrote, “The…Australian nurses were invaluable with the wounded, and
some individual cases of gallantry…deserved the highest praise,” (Elphick, P 1995, p. 68).
Two of these individual cases were the acts of nurses Margaret Anderson and Vera Torney,
who threw themselves in front of patients to shield them from machine-gunning. Their
acts of bravery did not go unnoticed. Anderson received the George Medal and Torney was
made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) upon their return to Australia
(Department of Veterans' Affairs n.d).
Another story of courage and resilience equal to that of any soldier is that of nurse Ellen
Savage. Of the 12 nurses on board the Centaur, bound for Port Moresby, where they were
to recover and treat wounded soldiers, Savage was the only survivor when the ship was
sunk by a Japanese torpedo two days out of Sydney. Despite suffering numerous painful
injuries, Savage prioritised the injuries of other survivors over her own, and treated them
on a makeshift raft. During the thirty-four hours they waited for rescue, she made a great
effort to keep up the spirits of her fellow survivors and led group prayer, as well as
overseeing the rationing of their limited food and water supplies (de Groen, F 2012).
Despite its many tragic consequences for Australians, World War II proved to be a golden
opportunity for Australian women to triumphantly prove their proficiency in areas of work
previously reserved for men. The increasing demand for men to fight abroad opened up
positions for women in occupations never before available to them, in which they worked
diligently and successfully. The lack of soldiers on the home front also gave women the
chance to serve in the army, proving that their ability to contribute to the war effort
extended beyond nursing and the provision of knitted comforts. Furthermore, Australian
nurses in WWII displayed outstanding skills and bravery, the likes of which had never
been expected of them before, enduring dangerous and trying situations to serve their
country. Whilst workplace gender equality was not achieved overnight by the end of the
war, and is yet to be completely achieved, the progression made towards it during WWII
was significant. Women were given a taste of what working in male-dominated fields was
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like, and whilst some happily returned to a life of domestic duties after the war, some could
never be content with this domiciliary lifestyle again, stimulating the push for a greater
female presence in the workforce during the decades that followed.
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Bibliography
Australian Government 2009, Women in action - nurses and serving women, Canberra, ACT,
Australia, accessed 8 April 2016, <http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/
women-in-action>.
This webpage provided me with information about the roles of Australian war nurses not only during
WWII, but also in wars prior, allowing me to compare their contribution in WWII with that of
previous wars. It also gave a comprehensive description of the Australian women’s auxiliary services
during WWII, which was very helpful. It is very likely that this source is reliable, as I found it on the
Australian Government’s official website.
de Groen, F 2012, Savage, Ellen (1912–1985), Australian Dictionary of Biography, accessed 1 May
2016, <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/savage-ellen-15752>.
This article gave me a lot of useful information about nurse Ellen Savage, whose story I used as some
of my supporting evidence for my argument that the increased responsibility of nurses in WWII aided
the progression towards workplace gender equality in Australia. The information is likely to be
reliable because the article’s author is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Humanities at
the University of Western Sydney, as well as the fact that I found it on a website that was created by
the National Centre of Biography at the Australian National University.
Department of Veterans' Affairs n.d., Fall of Singapore, Australian Government, Canberra, ACT,
Australia, accessed 1 May 2016, <http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/japadvance/leave.html>.
This webpage described some of the events of the Fall of Singapore in WWII and the subsequent
evacuation of the island, noting the particular brave deeds of two nurses who received awards for
their service during the evacuation. Finding this personal story and example of nurses’ success during
the war was useful in supporting my argument.
Elphick, P 1995, Singapore: The Pregnable Fortress, Hodder & Stoughton, London.
This book was useful because, not only did it provide a detailed account of the Fall of Singapore and
the brave deeds performed by Australian nurses during the subsequent evacuation, but it also
provided quotes from those who were present at the time, allowing me to incorporate evidence from a
primary source into my essay.
Heywood, A 2009, Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) (1941 - 1947), Australian
Government Department of Veterans' Affairs Australian Women in War project, accessed 8 April
2016, <http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/IMP0149b.htm>.
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This source provided a detailed history of the Australian Women's Army Service, as well as noting the
achievement and skill of the women who worked for this service, which I was able to mention in my
essay to support my argument.
John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library 2005, Women At Work, Curtain University, Perth, WA,
Australia, accessed 8 April 2016, <http://john.curtin.edu.au/legacyex/women.html>.
This webpage provided me with a quote from former Australian Prime Minister John Curtain, which
reflects the changing attitude of many Australians towards women’s role in society during WWII. This
was a useful find because I was able to incorporate this quote into my essay to back up my arguments
with primary source evidence from a notable person at the time.
McKernan, M 2014, Australians At Home: World War II, 2nd edn, The Five Mile Press, Scoresby,
VIC.
This was a useful source because it provided me with examples of jobs undertaken by women for the
first time during WWII, as well as common examples of both positive and negative attitudes towards
the rise in female presence in the workforce, allowing me to approach the topic from a range of
perspectives in my essay.
State Library of Victoria 2016, Roles for women in WWII, Victorian Government, Melbourne, VIC,
Australia, accessed 5 April 2016, <http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/australia-wwii/homewii/roles-women-wwii>.
This webpage proved useful because it described the commonly perceived role of women prior to
WWII. Incorporating this information early on in my essay gave my points some context,
demonstrating the significance of the changes in women’s roles explained in the essay.
State Library of Victoria 2016, Women's auxiliary services, Victorian Government, Melbourne,
VIC, Australia, accessed 5 April 2016, <http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/australia-wwii/
home-wii/womens-auxiliary-services>.
This webpage provided information about the new women’s auxiliary services established during
WWII, as well as the new Australian Women’s Land Army, which, whilst I had found information
about these services on other sites, was very useful because it allowed me to cross-reference this
information with that which I had found on other sites, allowing me to determine which facts were
most likely to be reliable and include these.
The Courier Mail n.d., Women man jobs, Queensland Newspapers, Brisbane, QLD, Australia,
accessed 10 April 2016, <http://www.couriermail.com.au/extras/ww2/women.htm?
nk=218451fdfc317774f9b37413245e695f-1461218471>.
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This source was valuable because it was written partly as a product of interviews with people who
were young adults living in Australia during WWII, including women who worked in newly available
jobs and the new women’s auxiliary services. It also included a useful statistic about the rise in female
participation in the workforce which I used to support my argument, as well as information about the
Australian Women’s Land Army.
Twomey, C 2009, ‘Double Displacement: Western Women’s Return Home from Japanese
Internment in the Second World War’, Gender & History, vol. 21, no. 3, 1 November, pp. 670-684.
This webpage succinctly described some of the events of the Fall of Singapore in WWII and the
subsequent evacuation of the island from the Australian nurses’ perspective, making this event easy
for me to understand and write about in my own words.
Women in industry n.d., Skwirk Online Education, St Leonards, NSW, Australia, accessed 14 April
2016, <http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-56_u-91_t-202_c-676/women-in-industry/nsw/women-inindustry/australia-and-world-war-ii/women-in-world-war-ii>.
This source provided a very detailed insight into the experiences of women working in industrial
fields for the first time during WWII, including both why they enjoyed their new opportunities, as
well as some of the frustrations they faced, including vastly unequal pay compared with their males
counterparts, and how this spurred on the fight for workplace gender equality.
Women on the home front n.d., Skwirk Online Education, St Leonards, NSW, Australia, accessed
14 April 2016, <http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-91_t-202_c-675/women-on-the-home-front/
nsw/women-on-the-home-front/australia-and-world-war-ii/women-in-world-war-ii>.
This source described some of the organisations that Australian women created and/or participated
in in order to contribute to the war in its earlier months, before new branches of the Australian army
and other government organisations which allowed them to serve were established. These examples
were useful because they helped me prove the eagerness of women to contribute to the war effort as
men were.
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