International Women’s Day is annually held on 8th March to celebrate women’s achievements throughout history and across nations. 

In honour of this special day, The National Archives of Malta are sharing a collection of feminist stories intertwined with the country’s history. 

Their latest story, came in the form of a letter penned by Norah Smyth and addressed to His Honour, the Lieutenant-Governor of Hamrun Malta.  

Dated 1st November 1942, the letter sees Norah protesting against the exclusion of women from the cigarette ration. 

“The letter gives an interesting insight into gender issues during the Second World War... at least among a section of the population,” the caption reads.  

“Whenever there is a shortage of any commodity, it is always allocated to infants, invalids and individuals of the male sex between the age of 16 and 60,” Norah begins.  

“Women, who do all the drudgery of life, toil and moil and spend hours in queues and searching for food, very often stinting themselves for food for their menfolk, are always given the go-by. I suppose the men set them up on pedestals as being above the material things in life, but that is cold comfort and not at all nutritive,” the letter continues.  

Throughout the letter, Norah addresses a new Government proposal which introduced “a regulation limiting the sale of tobacco to men and youths of 16 to 60, who already get a layer bread ration.” 

“It is a well-known fact that if you are hungry, a smoke helps to allay the pangs of hunger. It is an insult to womanhood that every male child of 16 can have his ration of cigarettes while women must go without, and naturally every woman resents such an inequality and injustice,” she stated.  

It is important to note that besides suppressing hunger, cigarettes became so integrated into life on the battlefield that these symbols of pleasure and comfort were also used as a form of currency. 

Norah continued to propose a solution to this restriction, “it would be far better, if you must ration smokes, to have fixed the male age at 21, before the youths had contracted the habit of smoking, and to have included women of the same ages as the men.”   

Will you be celebrating women’s day? 

Main Image: Facebook/ The National Archives of Malta