Women in the Shadow War: Gender, Class and MI5 in the Second World War

Rosemary Toy, Christopher Smith

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    9 Citations (Scopus)
    961 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    During the Second World War, the women employed in Britain's secret Security Service (MI5) far outnumbered their male colleagues. Their numbers grew rapidly over the course of the war and by 1941 stood at over 800. Despite the vast influx of female labour into the agency, attitudes towards the role of women in intelligence, be it as wartime workers or as secret agents, demonstrated remarkable continuity with those of the interwar period. Similarly, internal attitudes regarding those traits which produced the best agents and intelligence officers, highly informed by understandings of both masculinity and social status, demonstrated considerable resilience.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)688-706
    Number of pages19
    JournalWomen's History Review
    Volume27
    Issue number5
    Early online date6 Jul 2017
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2018

    Bibliographical note

    This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Women’s History Review on 06/07/2017, available
    online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09612025.2017.1345714

    Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.

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