Clandestine operations: Three female agents of the Special Operations Executive
LE3 .A278 2005
2005
Whaley, Leigh Anne
Acadia University
Bachelor of Arts
Honours
History
History & Classics
Until recently, women's roles in the resistance have been largely ignored by the scholarly community. Although in the last ten years there has been more research into this area of study, there are still many aspects of women's roles in the resistance that deserve scholarly attention. This thesis will analyze the gender stereotypes that were prevalent at the time and how women's roles in the resistance were affected by them. It will argue that gender politics had a profound impact on the constitution of the resistance. Through the case studies of Andree Borrel, Noor Inayat Khan, and Odette Sansom, this thesis will prove that women continually demonstrated themselves to be competent, and in some cases exceptional, agents. However, despite their capabilities, women were often denied promotions to positions of authority arguably because men would not accept orders from a woman and, in the estimation of their commanding officers, women were not thought to be capable of running their own resistance group. Furthermore, this thesis will argue that women were only able to become involved in the resistance out of necessity. Since most of the men of military age were already fighting in the war, there was a need for women to fill the positions that were available. It was not as a result of change in ideology that women were able to become active in the resistance, but out of pure necessity. However, although women have often been considered ˜second-string" resistors, this did not mean that they were not competent. As the experiences of Andree Borrel, Noor Inayat Khan and Odette Sansom will demonstrate, women were just as capable as their male counterparts.
The author retains copyright in this thesis. Any substantial copying or any other actions that exceed fair dealing or other exceptions in the Copyright Act require the permission of the author.
https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:471