“Someone has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, flyboy!”
—Princess Leia, A New Hope
As the shuttle Tydirium approaches the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi, Princess Leia Organa, a key member of the Rebel strike force, is filled with apprehension. Their mission is dangerous, maybe even suicidal. The Rebels are relying on stolen codes obtained by their own spies to bypass tight Imperial security. That will be only the start of the challenges she knows they face in the vital mission to take down the massive generator protecting the second Death Star. Most of the Rebels, Leia included, are dressed in forest camouflage, a time-honored guerrilla warfare tactic, to increase their chances of moving undetected once they close in on their objective. If captured, Leia and her comrades will be treated as traitors by an implacable enemy that sees them not as worthy soldiers but as “Rebel scum.” Leia is right to be worried about what fate they face as resistance fighters: our history and her own galaxy’s past show that women were not spared when they took part in the irregular warfare of the resistance fighter. Yet the Empire should be worried, too, because it faces a resistance made all the stronger by the women who lead and support the Rebel forces.