Gaslight, Girlboss, Gatekept: Pacific Northwest Women Bootleggers and Moonshiners During Prohibition, 1916-1933.

Abstract

During the Prohibition era (1916–1933), women in the Pacific Northwest played a significant yet understudied role in the illegal alcohol trade. Contrary to the prevailing narrative that bootlegging, rum running, and moonshining were predominantly male enterprises, women actively participated in manufacturing, transporting, and selling illicit liquor. Contemporary newspapers, such as a 1918 article in the Tacoma Daily Ledger, highlight how women moonshiners were not only common but also notoriously difficult to trace. Drawing from period newspaper reports and legal records, this paper examines how women leveraged societal expectations, employed clever tactics, and subverted gender norms to carve out space in the criminal economy of the era. By uncovering these women's contributions, this research challenges conventional understandings of gender roles during Prohibition and brings to light the overlooked impact of female participants in the Pacific Northwest's illicit alcohol networks.