Procuring a Victory at Home: Halifax Women Respond to the Butter Ration, 1939-1946

Abstract

This thesis explores the ways in which women both complied with and resisted government intervention in the form of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board’s ration regulations. By examining a number of different sources, and the ways in which Canadian women responded to ration policy, I demonstrate that women in Halifax both reinforced and challenged notions of middle-class womanhood and citizenship as a result of their compliance with and resistance to government involvement. I also focus on the rationing of butter, an important part of people’s diets, in order to demonstrate how women responded to rationing overall. During World War Two, thousands of women volunteered in local organizations. This thesis begins by examining a number of voluntary associations in Halifax. Women’s voluntary organizations set their own agenda in addressing issues specific to Halifax; however, they also collaborated with the government to assist the war effort. Another aspect of compliance is explored in the succeeding chapter. In response to rationing, women adhered to government intervention by employing thrift in their cooking, stretching recipes, and finding alternatives to common ingredients. Through this deference to state policy, women allowed the federal government, newspapers, and other media outlets to make the rather private realm of family nutrition public. The final chapter of this thesis shifts away from examining compliance and focuses on aspects of resistance. When it comes to ration policy, fewer women were caught violating ration regulations than men. The Enforcement Branch of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board as well as the policing of women’s behaviour by society made it difficult for Halifax women to cheat rationing. Based on evidence found within the Branch’s records it is likely that women were policing the behaviour of retailers as well.