The Housewife's Mandates

Just how did the war impact life for the Hawaii housewife? Most of us have heard the stories about the long lines at grocery stores, the food rationing stamps, and the shortage of special ingredients. But, what else impacted these women? (Photo is of the line to receive gas rationing stamps.)

During the first months of the war, schools were closed. Mothers had to deal with children who had to sit in blacked out living rooms at night huddled around the radio listening to war news and were not allowed out. Most schools didn’t reopen until February 1942 and when they did, many of them were on split-schedules leaving a mother with one child going to school from 7:00 a.m. to noon, and another from noon to 3:00 p.m.

Some of the private schools were leased by the military government forcing schools to close down or to hold classes in private homes. Those mothers would take one child to one house and another child to a different home. (Photo is of a volunteer woman civil defense warden.)

Then there was the pressure on women to do their “patriotic duty.” Housewives were encouraged to conserve food. Cooking leftovers became patriotic. Kitchen management problems prompted the expansion of the University of Hawaii’s extension programs. Home agents were ready to assist rural families who could not come to town. Among those women were: Nellie Huffline, Lillian Raynard, and Irmgard Farden. (Yes, our own “Auntie Irmgard” of Hawaii music fame.)

Since the schools closed unexpectedly, there was a surplus of milk stored at the school cafeterias. Newspaper articles enouraged women to have their children “drink more milk at home.” In addition, recipes were run on making milk-based soups.

The Honolulu Gas Company sponsored “Foods for Victory,” a series about how to cook quicker and more efficiently to save gas. (Mrs. Jean Shimamura headed that series.) Another reason to encourage women to spend less time in the kitchen was so that they had more time for Relief Work and Red Cross projects. And, as for those women who worked full-time, many of them were required to work “forced overtime.” (Photo is of women lumberyard workers at Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor workers frequently were forced to work overtime.)

Life got turned upside down. Small and major adjustments had to be made, some humorous in retrospect. Alice Sorenson told me that one of the surplus food ships brought a delivery of potatoes and children’s shoes to the island. “No rice,” she said. “Just potatoes. And what were we supposed to do with winter shoes for our kids? They didn’t even wear shoes to school in the lower grades.”

And food that was typically imported from Japan was just not to be found. Cracked seed substitutes were attempted—and disappointed.

In 1942, 1943, 1944 there was no kazunoko, ida or mochi on the New Year’s tables.
And shoyu was expensive. Interestingly, even though shoyu was manufactured in Hawaii, after the war, its price soared.

And while mothers were encouraged to cook with shipped surplus foods, cook faster, and volunteer more hours, they were also chided for not taking better care of their children. The dissatisfaction of some citizens led to frequent letters to the editors.

In truth, there was an increase in juvenile crime. The 1942 juvenile delinquency statistics show that despite a blackout curfew, the delinquency rate among children age 12 and under and among all female juveniles increased significantly. “Girl lawbreakers were 625 more numerous. Boy delinquents increased by 25%.” (Crime Prevention Bureau report for 1942)

That report stated that, “Major crimes by children under 12 rose from 181 in 1941 to 227 in 1942. Except for six car thefts and one robbery all major crimes by juveniles in 1942 were burglaries and thefts.”

The social service agencies got involved. In the November, 1942 meeting of the Honolulu Council of Social Agencies, Dr. Arthur L. Dean, chairman, addressed the problem of the increased number of unsupervised children due to the employment of both parents to support the war effort.

Dr. Benjamin O. Wist, Chair of the Day Care Committee, said a survey taken in July 1942, showed that 30% of Honolulu children up to 12 years of age have working mothers and are in need of adequate supervision and care. Dr. Wist suggested the schools take control of a program for full-time care for their students. Dr. W. Robinson, Deputy School Superintendent said his department supports schools having twenty-four hour care. (Honolulu Star Bulletin, November 6 and November 20, 1942.)

It never happened.

(Photo is of tool room workers.)

There were more personal outcries about mothers leaving renegade children to torment citizens. The following letter was printed in the Honolulu Advertiser.

“When the war got started, the ladies in all parts of the territory were asked to go to work to… release the men to do the fighting. This meant that many mothers walked out of their homes from morning to night, leaving their children in age groups from eight to eighteen, to wander around and find their own kind of occupation.

“Some children became delinquents, some stood and listened to vile language, some were taught vile things—and mothers finally reached the state where they no longer had any control over the children, even when they were at home.

“…let us hope in most cases, the mother did this from a pure patriotic desire, while others … saw clouds of easy currency to be grasped. It was human greed that started World War II. Now, it seems that a lot of mothers have no desire to return home to the caring for their family and like it better now that they can by expensive clothes and jewelry and to devil with their kids.

“A little forceful persuasion might be used to send these ‘wandering mamas’ back to the work that God intended them to do, so that other neighbors can have a little peace and less destruction to the gardens, fences and so on.

“These mothers helped manufacture these kiddies. Probably by now some of the kiddies are marred for the rest of their lives by this questionable necessity for neglect, but some
might be saved to be some good to themselves and their fellow creatures in days to come.”

The letter was signed, “A Father.” (September 11, 1945)


















The social upheaval caused by the war---women making equal pay as men, women being given traditional male jobs, inter-racial dating and marriages, children left unsupervised, the invasion of thousands of males onto the island—changed Hawaii forever. (The photo above is of Belle Fernandez, a rated woman boat builder.)

Beth Bailey and David Farber wrote a book dealing with these changes. It’s title is “The First Strange Place: Race and Sex in World War II Hawaii.”

They discuss issues of divorce rates increasing, women who marrying active duty military and moving to the mainland, mainland military opting to stay in Hawaii after the war (and thereby establishing a middle-class, working haole population.) By the end of the war, it is readily conceded that Hawaii was a much less strange place than it was, and much more like the mainland.

All photos from the Hawaii War Records Depository.