The Importance of Women's Thrift to War Saving, Rationing and Fighting Inflation.
"Thrift...IS PRACTICAL PATRIOTISM" was the headline of a victory loan campaign poster, appearing over two drawings of housewives at work in the home. Below, the National War Finance Committee asked: "How many ways can you save...to LEND TO CANADA?" Another advertisement issued by the National War Finance Committee pictured a sinister, shadowy Hitler whispering into the ear of woman just reaching into her handbag to extract a five-dollar bill, "GO ON, SPEND IT.... What's the difference?"
Women's thrift was indispensable to the wartime conservation and anti-inflation campaigns. The crucial economic role of housewives as consumers was recognized by war departments of government; the Wartime Prices and Trade Board (WPTB) singled out "Mrs. Consumer" as the heroine of the battle against inflation.
One third of Canada's adult women were marshalled to check shelf prices against the published list of price ceilings and to monitor the supplies of basic foods and other domestic commodities and report to Byrne Hope Sanders, Head of the Consumers' Branch of the WPTB. Women volunteers distributed ration books after the board introduced the rationing of food stuffs such as tea, butter, and sugar in 1942.
Courtesy: Picture Archives Branch, Public Archives of Canada (C-93633) Maclean's Library, Toronto
