How the MachinesWere Assisted by Women

Abstract

The following paper analyzes nature of skill in the cryptographic work performed by female employees of the World War II British cryptography program at Bletchley Park. Using anecdotes from women who worked to decrypt the Lorenz cipher, I show the hidden skills which were integral to their work and to the war effort. This paper aims to reconstruct their experiences and deepen our understanding of what it took to operate decryption machines, especially focusing on the Colossus computer.