Representations of Housewife Identity in BBC Home Front Radio Broadcasts, 1939-1945

While British food policy during the Second World War was a resounding success, it relied on and reinforced traditional gender roles. An equal shares model for food control provided a sense of national solidarity, but housewives were still represented as inferior to men. <p>This thesis examines women’s gender identity as present in BBC radio programmes aimed at housewives, specifically broadcasts that dealt with rationing and cooking. Broadcasts regularly emphasized women’s ingenuity and ability to cook nutritious meals using limited food options while also devaluing women’s existing knowledge. Men were frequently considered experts whether or not they were authority figures. Also, the association of meat with masculinity and sugar with femininity provided a redefinition of women’s identity but failed to challenge traditional gender norms or these gendered connections. Thus, traditional gender roles were maintained even while wartime conditions provided changing opportunities and an increased sense of national unity and equality.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor dc:publisher

Bowling Green State University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Rewinkel, Kimberly Erin

Contributors dc:contributor

• Forsyth, Douglas

• History
• Gender
• British Broadcasting Corporation
• radio
• World War II
• identity
• housewife
• women
• The Kitchen Front
• At Home Today
• Wise Housekeeping
• meat
• vegetables
• sugar
• jam
• rationing
• food controls
• Ministry of Food
• cooking

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363267060

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:bgsu1363267060