Publication Date
Spring 4-15-2024
School
College of Arts and Sciences
Major
Social Sciences; Spanish
Keywords
espionage, women, World War II, OSS, SOE, comparative analysis, women in intelligence
Disciplines
European History | Military History | Women's History | Women's Studies
Recommended Citation
Nolley, Adaline, "Bureaus of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Comparing the Roles of Women in the Special Operations Executive and the Office of Strategic Services During World War II" (2024). Senior Honors Theses. 1356.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/honors/1356
Abstract
In 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill created the Special Operations Executive. The SOE was one of the first government agencies to recruit female spies. In 1941, United States President Franklin Roosevelt commissioned the Office of Strategic Services, which also employed women. The organizations approached the concept of female agents differently. The OSS maintained female staff in domestic offices, but employed foreign women as agents. The SOE recruited women to go abroad, as they were less suspicious than men in occupied territories. The study of female staff in the OSS and the SOE allow historians to understand roles of women in espionage and compare U.S. and British involvement in World War II.
Included in
European History Commons, Military History Commons, Women's History Commons, Women's Studies Commons
