The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight

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 Novel, visit https://novel.audio/

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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 more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/

You heard archive from CBS’s 60 Minutes.

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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/

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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/

The archive you heard was the commercial “the Air Strip” from Braniff International. You also heard “Also Sprach Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss, performed by Lud and Schlatts Musical Emporium. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internati...

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, visit https://novel.audio/

You heard archive from an NBC special Report called The Teamsters Union Power, a clip from an ABC News story on Loving v Virginia and...

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 Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/

You heard archive including chanting from the documentary The March by James Blue, a news clip from AP on...

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 more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/

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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 International and a 1963 television address by President John F. Kennedy on civil rights from John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For m...

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 The Rise of Labor from the CIA collections of the U.S. National Archives.

The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visi...

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 you heard was the 1967 commercial “Presenting the Losers” by Eastern Air Lines.

The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. 

For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/

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’s biggest airlines and the sexism baked into the industry itself. A powerful sisterhood began to form across cabin aisles and crew lounges. They weren’t just fighting for better contracts. They were fighting for control of thei...

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 Nadya into overnight activist fame… and a prison labour camp.

The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts.

For more from Novel visit Novel.Audio

See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

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 extraordinary bond of friendship and support in the concentration camp in which they’ve been held. Their unofficial leader is 25-year-old Hélène Podliasky. And she’s about to...

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 of building up the Kingdom of God.

But one day, Lu Ann couldn't take it anymore. She decided she had t...

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 incredible discovery: At a local hospital, a diligent forensic pathologist had kept in storage all the biological evidence from every rape exam he had ever performed. This could be the...

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 markets, wasn’t buying the hype. When she started digging into Harshad Meta, she uncovered something explosive. She had 24 hours to get to the bottom of it - with her ca...

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 set her on a path to save thousands of women from romance fraud.

The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts.

For more from No...

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, Carolyn founded The Modern Widows Club - dedicated to enabling women of all ages and backgrounds to embrace life after widowhood. She calls it ‘a wisterhood’.

Plus we hear fro...

The number 1 hit true crime series is back with more women fighting crime, battling injustice and seriously kicking ass.

In The Girlfriends: Spotlight, our global gang of girlfriends grew to include Pussy Riot’s punk icon and political prisoner Nadya Tolokonnikova, British Nigerian beauty queen and founder of Miss Trans Global, Miss saHHara and ‘The Erin Brockovich of East Africa’, environmental activist Phyllis Omido. Now host Anna Sinfield returns with more incredible stories. 

The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts.
For more from Novel visit Novel.Audio

See omnystudio.com/listene...

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 in the press, or on her own social media - or even if she texted her friends or emailed her therapist about it - she could face a criminal conviction and a fine. 

Morrell wasn’t going t...

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 interviews, to take a closer look at the key themes that underpinned Trust Me Babe. 

If you’re affected by any of the themes i...

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 criminal history. Featuring real archival recordings from Captain Tom Oldag’s extensive investigation. 

In this four part mini-series, we take a deep dive into our archive of never b...

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 what you can do about them. 

In this four part mini-series, we take a deep dive into our archive of never before heard interviews, to take a clo...

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 back in 2018.  

In this four part mini-series, we take a deep dive into our archive of never before heard interviews, to take a closer look at the key themes that underpinned Trust Me B...

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 https://fightcybercrime.org/ 

The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit ht...

It’s the unlikeliest of criminal partnerships: a devout polygamist from an insular Utah sect joining forces with a shadowy Armenian tycoon from LA. The result - a billion dollar fraud conspiracy. In Kingdom of Fraud, investigative reporter Michele McPhee traces the origins of the extraordinary alliance between Jacob Kingston and Levon Termendzhyan. Together, the two men trigger the largest tax investigation in American history and weave around themselves a web of dirty cops, influential political relationships and transnational money laundering. All this is set against the backdrop of Jacob Kingston’s clan – The Order. A powerful and secretive polyga...

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, visit https://fightcybercrime.org/ 

The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Nove...

Dorie is at home in Texas scrolling through photos on her iPad, when she makes a shocking discovery about the guy she’s been dating. 

When the truth comes out about who he really is, she resolves to do something about it. 

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 https://fightcybercrime.org/ 

The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe is produc...

Lisa finally touches down in Minnesota, and learns her friends know more than they’ve been letting on about the real identity of her unusual boyfriend. 

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 https://fightcybercrime.org/ 

The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/. 

You can list...

Lisa, a hockey loving nurse from St Paul, Minnesota, has just begun dating a new guy who seems to have it all. 

But her close-knit group of friends have begun to suspect something dodgy is going on.

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 https://fightcybercrime.org/ 

The Girlfriends: Trust Me Babe is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For m...

Wendy is  a single mom with a busy job, looking for love on Maui, Hawaii.

Then, she begins dating a con artist. By accident at first. 

And then, before long - out of sheer curiosity and with the help of her protective older sister - on purpose. 

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 https://fightcybercrime.org/ 

The Girlf...

When a group of women from all over the country realise they all dated the same prolific romance scammer they vow to bring him to justice. 

In this brand new season of global number 1 hit podcast, The Girlfriends, Anna Sinfield meets a group of funny, feisty, determined women who all had the misfortune of dating a mysterious man named Derek Alldred. 

Trust Me Babe is a story about the protective forces of gossip, gut instinct, and trusting your besties and the group of women who took matters into their own hands to take down a fr...

In 2013, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah’s nine-year-old daughter, Ella, died from a catastrophic asthma attack. Her death transformed her mum into a formidable campaigner. First, she fought to find out what had killed Ella - why had her previously healthy little girl suddenly developed breathing problems so bad they would become fatal? 

The answer lay very close to home - Ella, Rosamund and her siblings lived just off the busy South Circular Road, and the air pollution levels were dangerously high. Rosamund’s fight led to Ella becoming the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as a...

Christmas Day, 1992. Sarajevo, Bosnia. War is ranging - Serb forces surround the city. For nearly four years, its people have endured daily shelling and sniper attacks, cut off from the rest of the world in the longest siege of a capital city in modern warfare. More than 11,000 people were killed. 1600 of them were children. 

And in the main hospital, a baby is born: Lejla Damon. Her mother didn’t want anything to do with her - if she held her, she said, she would strangle her.

Lejla was born of sexual violence used as a wea...

It’s the 1990s in San Francisco, and Antonia Crane is a dancer at the legendary peep show, the Lusty Lady. In the dressing room and the mirrored ‘Fishbowl’ where the dancers perform in six inch heels, a revolution is brewing. 

The dancers are sick of putting up with workplace injustices, or customers filming them without their consent. And they’re about to take on the system and fight to become one of the first unionised strip clubs in the United States.

Antonia Crane is an author, activist, sex worker and PhD candidate at USC. You can r...

When the Taliban captured Herat City in August 2021, Tooba Sarwari had just one thing on her mind: cricket. Would she ever be able to play her beloved sport again? And more pressing, would the Taliban find the evidence of her and her team mates’ sporting achievements? If they did, it would surely spell the end for them and their families.

This is the story of how Tooba, and the other members of the Afghan Women’s Cricket Team, risked everything to flee Afghanistan and start a new life in Australia - with the help of some cricketing frie...

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 extraordinary bond of friendship and support in the concentration camp in which they’ve been held. Their unofficial leader is 25-year-old Hélène Podliasky. And she’s about to suggest something incredible: The Nine are going to escape...

Jacquie Davis joined the police when she was just 18 years old. She was fearless and ambitious, but she quickly realised her career progression was limited by her gender and education. Everything changed when she was recruited into The Circuit - a secretive network of freelance security professionals. 

As one of the only women in her field, Jacquie’s career as a bodyguard would take her to incredible places - from high-risk protection jobs for Gulf State Sheikhas, to cracking a theft ring at bougie London department store Liberty, to a daring mission to free a pregnant British wom...

When Visaka Dharmadasa’s soldier son was kidnapped by the fearsome Tamil Tigers in the midst of Sri Lanka’s bitter civil war, she couldn’t find anyone who could help find him - or the 608 other soldiers who had been taken the same night. So Visaka transformed herself, first into a fighter against the bureaucracy of the Sri Lankan government and the Red Cross, and then into a fearsome peace activist. 

Defying warnings, she crosses into Tamil Tiger territory and sits down with some of the terrorist group’s most notorious leaders, appealing to their humanity as a moth...

The number 1 hit true crime series is back with more women fighting crime, battling injustice and seriously kicking ass.

In Season 1 of The Girlfriends: Spotlight, our global gang of girlfriends grew to include Pussy Riot’s punk icon and political prisoner Nadya Tolokonnikova, British Nigerian beauty queen and founder of Miss Trans Global, Miss saHHara and ‘The Erin Brockovich of East Africa’, environmental activist Phyllis Omido.

Now host Anna Sinfield returns with more incredible stories of women like bodyguard Jacquie Davis, who set out on a daring mission to free a pregnant British woman trapped in Pak...