This paper examines the relationship between Australian women's participation in paid work in the public market and the child-rearing component of their unpaid, non-market work, and the role of public policy in regulating the relationship. The study presents a historical overview of the period between 1939 and 1950. Critical concepts and the ideas of several feminist thinkers are discussed. Work-related issues of the war years are considered. These include: (1) the distinction between public and private work; (2) the entry of women into the work force from 1939 to 1943; (3) social attitudes towards working women who are unmarried and those who are married; (4) the increased need for child care; (5) the opposition of church hierarchies to working women; and (6) government child care programs. The issues of postwar reconstruction include the decline of women in the work force from 1943 to 1947 and the increase of working women after this period; ideological attempts to encourage a return to traditional family and women's roles; pronatalism and government population policies; and child care. A list of references is provided. (BC)