I wrote previously in reference to New Zealand: "After the second world war, more and more women were drawn into the labour force..."
This formulation, although true, blinds us to the fact that during the second world war, very large numbers of New Zealand women were suddenly recruited both into civilian and military jobs, which previously had been done by men, who had gone on active combat duty overseas. Thus, whereas in 1933, real unemployment was over a quarter of the labour force and approaching a third or the labour force, the outbreak of war in 1939 eliminated unemployment almost completely. In total, 140,000 New Zealand men and women were sent overseas to serve in fighting formations, out of a population of less than 1.5 million at the time. In mid-1942, New Zealand's military mobilisation peaked with some 155,000 men and women under arms (including those overseas) and a further 100,000 in the Home Guard. In total, some 194,000 New Zealand men - 67 per cent of those between 18 and 45 years old - plus 10,000 New Zealand women served in the armed forces during world war 2. Overall New Zealand devoted a third of its national income to the war effort, increasing to half during the years 1942-44. Fatal casualties during world war 2 totalled 11,625 New Zealanders. Proportionally speaking, New Zealand's ratio of soldiers killed per million of population (at 6,684) was the highest in the Commonwealth (with Britain at 5,123 and Australia, 3,232). New Zealand supplied (on a per capita basis) the largest number of aircrew and the largest number of fighter aces of any country in the world for combat duty. iN 1941, The New Zealand War Cabinet approved the formation of a women's auxiliary to the Royal New Zealand Air Force. New Zealand also suffered the largest number of aircrew killed relative to population as a result of the war. Prior to the abrupt surrender of the Japanese armed forces in August 1945, subsequent to the detonation of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the New Zealand War Cabinet claimed it was prepared to send a land invasion force to Japan of some 16,000 men, including two infantry brigades, as part of a combined British Commonwealth organisation, and agreed to send eight fighter squadrons, two bomber reconnaissance, two flying boat and two transport squadrons, with one half-strength bomber reconnaissance and two fighter squadrons held in reserve in New Zealand. Instead, after McArthur delayed his decision, Lieutenant-General John Northcott of the Australian Military Forces, the first Commander-in-Chief of the British force, announced by the end of January 1946 that a force of 40,000 representing Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and India (then still one country and part of the Commonwealth) would take part in the occupation of Japan; in February occupation forces began to arrive at Kure, formerly a Japanese secret naval base on the south coast of Honshu. Jurriaan
