![]() ![]() Who were these women, though? Why did they join? How did they experience military service? Many of the early recruits came from Tokomaru Bay, where an active Māori Women’s War Service Auxiliary operated. Māori women enthusiastically enlisted in the WAAF. Still others worked directly on the planes – repairing their wings, instruments, and making sure they were air-ready. Others repaired the parachutes that pilots relied upon for their lives. Women drove heavy trucks and carried out mechanical repairs themselves. Many WAAFs worked as mess hands, cooks, and clerks, but their roles were not limited to apparently ‘feminine’ duties. Women moved into “men’s jobs” but only for the duration of the war, as was the case with the armed services too. Image kindly provided by the Air Force Museum of New Zealand MUS1600221 CC-BY-NC-3.0 Front Ross, Ruston, Martin, instructor, instructor, Benson, Nicholas, Edwards. Middle Herewini, Parsons, Sheehan, Tuapawa, Bennett, Flavell, Witana, Rewa. ![]() L-R: Back Robinson, Anderson, Simpson, Price, Herdson, O'Shea, Clark, Looby. These women lived on Air Force stations just as the men did, although they were provided slightly more ‘home comforts’ (such as private showers and fewer roommates in the barracks) they ate in mess halls, were (eventually) granted military ranks, a military uniform, and some women received service medals. ![]() Though some women were granted the opportunity to leave New Zealand and join the war effort in the Pacific, the vast majority of women completed their military service on home shores. The WAAF employed women for strictly non-combat roles. Although formed later, by 1942 the combined numbers of the WAAC and WRNZNS surpassed those of the WAAF. Between 19, over 4,700 women had enlisted in this force. Understandably, women reacted to their opportunity to join the WAAF with great enthusiasm. Living in a society where the social contract of marriage was assumed, where wives and daughters were expected to leave employment to take care of returned servicemen, and where the Prime Minister was reluctant to let women into the military because he did not want to see New Zealand women in trousers (among other concerns), the opportunities that World War II provided women were unprecedented. By 1942, 75,000 women had registered with the WWSA. Established in 1940, the WWSA co-ordinated the women’s war effort on a national basis through its district committees. Each of the services worked closely with the Women’s War Service Auxiliary (WWSA) organisation to recruit women and manage their placement. But the first auxiliary to be established was the WAAF in January 1941. In 1942, the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) and Women’s Royal New Zealand Navy Service (WRNZNS) were formed. The Army, Air Force, and Navy all opened their recruitment to women, forming distinct auxiliary forces. Women’s mobilisation also included service in the military. Women were ‘manpowered’ into essential work to meet the demand of wartime industrial and food production, especially after Japan entered the war in late 1941. © Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira, Daan Hoffmann Women's Auxiliaries Royal New Zealand Air Force Emblem in Stained Glass in World War II Hall of Memories, Auckland War Memorial Museum. My (Stacey) history honours dissertation has contributed to this dimension of the project by focusing on the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) and aimed to bring wāhine Māori into the limelight. One goal of our Marsden-funded project, Te Hau Kāinga: The Histories and Legacies of the Māori Home Front during the Second World War, is to identify the extent to which Māori women participated in war service at home. Unfortunately, there is no detailed data available on how many Māori women enlisted as the armed services did not collect ethnicity or iwi data. ![]() Thousands of Pākehā women enlisted in the Air Force, Army, and Navy between 19, but many Māori women also provided a valuable contribution to the armed services. Theirs is a double invisibilty of service due to their gender and ethnicity. Wāhine Māori voices form a significant absence from New Zealand’s military history. ![]()
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