Sisterhood of Spies

Despite the nearly universal portrayal of spies as male, women have completed some of the most daring and consequential spy missions in history. They have both overcome and exploited female stereotypes to gain and transmit vital information, risking it all for the causes they believed in. The history of female spies, in all their varied roles, keeps expanding to include not only the notorious, such as Mata Hari, or the otherwise famous, such as Harriet Tubman, Josephine Baker, Marlena Dietrich, or Julia Child, but scores of other unsung heroines. We will examine the lives of women spies not only for their historical impact but also as guides to accessing our own courage in dealing with life’s challenges.