Let’s be real for a second. If you strip away the slow-motion walking, the flat caps, and the cloud of cigarette smoke, the Shelby family business would have collapsed by the end of season one if it weren’t for the women. People come for Tommy Shelby’s haunted stares, but they stay because the women of Peaky Blinders are the ones actually keeping the engine running while the men try to blow it up.
It’s easy to dismiss a period drama set in 1920s Birmingham as a "boys' club." On the surface, it is. It’s dirty. It’s violent. It’s loud. But Steven Knight didn’t write these women as background decoration or mere "love interests" who wait at home for their husbands to come back from a razor fight. He wrote them as the strategic backbone of a criminal empire.
Honestly, the show is more about the friction between traditional gender roles and the raw necessity of survival than it is about horse racing.
The Matriarch Who Ran the Boardroom
You can’t talk about this show without starting with Polly Gray. Elizabeth "Polly" Gray, played with an almost terrifying elegance by the late Helen McCrory, wasn't just an aunt. She was the Treasurer of Shelby Company Limited. When the men were off fighting in the trenches of World War I, Polly ran the whole operation. She didn’t just "keep the seat warm." She expanded it.
There’s a specific nuance to Polly that most shows miss. She’s a certified accountant of the streets. While Tommy is the visionary dreamer who risks everything on a coin flip, Polly is the pragmatist. She understands the cost of blood. Remember when she told Tommy, "I've had to be a man for years, and I'm not going back"? That wasn't just a cool line for the trailer. It was a statement of fact about the post-war reality for women in industrial England.
They weren't just housewives. They were factory workers, managers, and, in Polly's case, the only person Tommy actually feared.
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Beyond the "Gangster’s Wife" Trope
Then you have Ada Thorne. Ada is fascinating because she’s the only Shelby who tried to opt-out. She started as a Marxist rebel, fell in love with a communist, and tried to build a life entirely separate from the Peaky Blinders. But the gravity of the family name always pulls you back.
What makes Ada's arc so compelling is her evolution into a high-level diplomat. By the final seasons, she isn't hiding in the shadows; she’s in London, managing the legitimate (and semi-legitimate) business interests of the family. She becomes the "public face" that the Shelby men are too rough to maintain. If Tommy is the sword, Ada is the velvet glove that hides the bloodstains on the handle.
You’ve probably noticed how her style changes, too. She goes from wearing drab, oversized coats to becoming one of the most stylish figures in 1930s high society. It’s a costume, sure, but it’s also armor.
The Complexity of Lizzie Stark
Lizzie is the character who arguably suffers the most and gains the least, yet she’s the most resilient. She started as a sex worker, became a secretary, and eventually became the Duchess of Birmingham as Tommy’s wife.
But it’s a hollow victory.
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Lizzie represents the glass ceiling that existed even within the criminal underworld. She’s "allowed" in the room, but her past is constantly used as a weapon against her. Despite that, she manages the household, the children, and Tommy’s crumbling mental state with a stoicism that rivals any soldier on the front lines. She’s the one who sees Tommy at his weakest—shaking, hallucinating, and screaming in his sleep—and she still holds the line.
The Antagonists and the Allies
It wasn't just the Shelby women. The show introduced figures like Jessie Eden, a real-life historical figure. Jessie was a shop steward and a communist activist who led the 1926 General Strike in Birmingham.
Including Jessie Eden wasn't just a nod to history; it grounded the show in the reality of the British labor movement. She challenged Tommy not with a gun, but with the power of the collective. She reminded the audience that while the Shelbys were busy stealing from the rich to become the rich, there were women actually fighting for the rights of the poor.
And we can't ignore the "antagonists" like Tatiana Petrovna or Diane Mitford. They weren't just "villains." They were power players who used their social standing and sexuality as leverage in a world that tried to deny them agency. They were often two steps ahead of the men, even if the men refused to see it.
Why This Matters for Modern TV
A lot of shows try to write "strong female characters" by just giving a woman a gun and making her act like a man. Women of Peaky Blinders avoids this trap. They are strong because they navigate a world designed to crush them. They use soft power. They use information. They use the fact that men constantly underestimate them.
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When Tommy Shelby is having a breakdown, who handles the business? Polly.
When a deal needs to be brokered in London? Ada.
When the family needs to be held together during a crisis? Lizzie.
The "Blinders" might be the ones in the photos, but the women are the ones writing the captions and paying the bills.
How to Apply the "Polly Gray" Strategy to Real Life
You don't have to be a 1920s bookmaker to learn something from these characters. The way they handle high-stakes environments is actually a masterclass in emotional intelligence and strategic patience.
- Master the "Quiet Room" Strategy: Polly Gray never shouted to get her point across. She lowered her voice. In any negotiation, the person who remains the calmest usually has the most power. If you’re in a high-pressure meeting, try slowing down your speech. It forces others to lean in and listen.
- Identify the "Ada Thorne" Pivot: Sometimes you can't beat a system from the outside. Ada realized that to protect her son and her beliefs, she had to use the family's resources. In your career, look for ways to use existing structures to fund or support your actual passions, rather than just fighting the machine head-on.
- The Power of Institutional Knowledge: The reason the women were so vital was that they knew where the bodies were buried—literally and figuratively. They knew the books, the names of the police officers on the payroll, and the family secrets. In any job, the person with the most "informal" information is often more powerful than the person with the biggest title.
- Resilience over Recognition: Lizzie Stark teaches us that sometimes you won't get the credit you deserve while you're doing the work. Focus on the stability you're building for yourself and your "tribe" rather than waiting for a pat on the back from a "Tommy Shelby" figure who is too busy with their own ego to notice.
The reality is that history—and television—often forgets the people who keep the lights on. But if you watch closely, the women of Peaky Blinders aren't just supporting characters. They are the architects of the empire. Without them, the Shelby name would just be another ghost in a Small Heath graveyard.
If you're looking to dive deeper into the historical context, check out Carl Chinn’s book The Real Peaky Blinders. It gives a much more grounded, less stylized look at the actual families and the roles women played in these street gangs during the early 20th century. You’ll find that the reality was often even more intense than the fiction.