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. 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.