The Girlfriends - Season 1 & 2

Pan Am stewardess Patricia Ireland loves her job until sexism and inequality become impossible to ignore. When a fight over health insurance sparks a feminist awakening, Patricia’s journey leads her from airline aisles to national leadership, helping transform women’s rights in America.   The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts . For more from Nov...

During the early AIDS crisis, one man was wrongly branded “Patient Zero.” As airlines began hiring male flight attendants, fear and homophobia converged around Gaëtan Dugas, turning him into a symbol of blame. This episode exposes how flawed science and stigma created a myth with lasting harm.   The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts . For m...

The fight reaches its climax as stewardesses race to win support for a new union. With careers and futures on the line, Nell documents the high-stakes vote that will decide it all and the lasting legacy these women leave on labor rights and women’s work.   The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts . For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/   &...

Frustrated with their male-dominated union, a group of stewardesses consider a radical idea: forming their own union. Nell follows secret meetings, whispered alliances, and mounting risks as the women decide whether to stay loyal or gamble everything on independence.   The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts . For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/ T...

As stewardesses push for dignity at work, everyday encounters expose how deeply power and sexism run in the airline industry. From union politics to moments of personal reckoning, Nell traces how one stewardess is forced to confront the cost of following the rules and the courage required to break them. The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts . For more from Novel...

In the 1960s, marriage could cost a stewardess her job. As a result, United Airlines flight attendant Celeste Brodigan lives a double life, hiding her husband from management. When the truth is discovered, the airline begins watching her every move until Celeste stands up for herself and her marriage, sparking a wider rebellion across the industry. The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight is produced by N...

In 1950s America, airlines refused to hire Black women as stewardesses. When Patricia Banks Edmiston is repeatedly rejected, she refuses to stay silent. By calling in civil rights leaders and taking on Capital Airlines, Patricia launches a landmark discrimination case that reshapes the skies and the industry.   The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts . For mo...

In the 1960s, stewardesses were forced to retire at 32, no matter their skill or experience. When Patt Gibbs and her colleagues publicly challenge the age rule, they confront a culture that values women only while they look young. The fight turns personal when a beloved mentor is quietly pushed aside. The archive you heard included the commercial “the Air Strip” from Braniff Internatio...

Behind the cocktails and movie stars, stewardesses’ jobs depended on staying under strict weight limits. When Patt Gibbs is suspended for gaining a few pounds, a company doctor hands her diet pills with potentially dangerous consequences. As women push their bodies to extremes, Patt begins to fight back and discovers how costly defiance can be.   You heard archive from the documentary T...

In the golden age of flying, air travel looked glamorous, but for the women working onboard, it was tightly controlled. Nell McShane Wulfhart takes us inside American Airlines’ “Charm Farm” where young stewardesses, like Patt Gibbs, were trained to be thin, obedient, and perfectly groomed. But everything changes after Patt impulsively attends a union meeting.   The archive y...

In the golden age of air travel, flying was sold as glamorous, luxurious, and effortlessly chic. But for the young women working the aisles at 30,000 feet, the reality was very different. The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight tells the story of the stewardesses who refused to be grounded. From secret meetings to landmark discrimination cases to high-stakes union votes, these women challenged America&rs...

Re-listen to the best of The Girlfriends: Spotlight: When Nadya Tolokonnikova saw her country Russia change under President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime, she knew she had to do something.  She started the iconic ski-mask-wearing art protest collective Pussy Riot. On February 21st, 2012, they performed their anti-Putin protest song, Punk Prayer, in a Moscow church, launching Nad...

Re-listen to the best of The Girlfriends: Spotlight: Germany. Spring 1945. The writing is on the wall for the Nazis. And thousands of women are marching along dirt roads. If they stop walking, they’ll be shot. Their route is lined with piles of corpses. It’s a death march. Among these women are The Nine. Nine young women, all members of the French resistance, who have formed an extraor...

Re-listen to the best of The Girlfriends: Spotlight: When Lu Ann Cooper was just fifteen years old, she was told to drop out of school and marry her first cousin. She would be his fourth wife.  Lu Ann grew up inside the so-called Kingston Clan, a religious sect where, Lu Ann claims, every man is expected to have many wives, and every woman is expected to have many children. All with the aim o...

Re-listen to the best of The Girlfriends: Spotlight: Rose Brady’s job running Baltimore County’s SVU was a frustrating one. The sexual violence crimes she and her team were investigating were just the tip of the iceberg. Her department was sitting on thousands of unsolved rape cases, dating back decades - with little hope of ever finding the perpetrators. That was until Rose made an in...

In 1992, the Bombay Stock Exchange in India was skyrocketing. And at the centre of this chaotic, testosterone fuelled world was Harshad Meta: a man with aviator shades, a Lexus, and a reputation as a financial wizard. To millions, he was "The Big Bull," a self-made hero who promised wealth to anyone who followed his lead. But Sucheta Dalal, one of the only female journalists covering the financial...

Anna Rowe thought she’d found the perfect man: attentive, caring and totally devoted to his children. But Anna gradually started to suspect that things weren’t quite what they seemed… Her doubts led her to some late night dating app sleuthing. What Anna discovers will unravel everything she thought she knew about love, trust, and the man she was madly in love with. And it will s...

On Valentine's Day 2000, Carolyn Moor's life changed forever when a hit-and-run accident killed her husband Chad. She was left a widow in her 30s - and with two young daughters to raise alone. And she discovered that when you’re a young widow, there’s not very much support - especially not the sort of support you need to get through the long years of grief-stricken child rearing. So, C...

When Morrell Andrews’s attacker was convicted of her sexual assault, she thought her fight was over. But it was just beginning. Because in Canada, where Morrell lives, ‘Publication Bans’ were enshrined in law. These bans meant that no one, including the survivor themselves, is allowed to publicly name the victim of a sexual offense. Effectively, if Morrell talked about her story...

Why did it take law enforcement so long to pay proper attention to Derek Alldred’s pattern of fraud against women all over the country?  In bonus episode four, Anna takes a deep dive into the investigation that finally brought Derek down, and the shortcomings of the many that came before.  In this four part mini-series, we take a deep dive into our archive of never before heard int...

When Derek Alldred was finally convicted in 2017, it was far from his first run-in with the law.  In fact, more than a decade earlier, he found himself in the crosshairs of one determined California fire investigator, named Tom Oldag, who suspected him of a very different kind of fraud.  In bonus episode three, Anna takes a deep dive into one strand of Derek Alldred’s colourful cri...

Confronting your bestie’s terrible boyfriend about his toxic behaviour can be tempting, but is it always the best course of action? How do you strike a balance between protecting your friend from becoming isolated, and being honest with them about your fears? In bonus episode two, Anna talks to social worker - Jen Lawrence - to learn more about the red flags of romance scammer behaviour, and...

In the years leading up to Derek’s conviction, his victims sometimes came forward to the media about their experiences.  But when they did so, the reaction from the public wasn’t always sympathetic.  In bonus episode one, Anna takes a closer look at the stigma that surrounds romance fraud with journalist Rachel Monroe, who covered Derek’s sentencing for The Atlantic bac...

Girlfriends from all over the country finally converge on a house in Texas.  And they meet a woman who’s been waiting on answers from Derek Alldred, for decades.  If you’re affected by any of the themes in this show, our charity partners NO MORE have available resources at https://www.nomore.org . To learn more about romance scams, and to access specialised support, visit htt...

Special Agent Mike discovers Dorie isn’t the only woman Derek Alldred’s been seeing in Texas. Will Tracie agree to help the girlfriends bring him down once and for all?  If you’re affected by any of the themes in this show, our charity partners NO MORE have available resources at https://www.nomore.org . To learn more about romance scams, and to access specialised support, v...