Anything Bond can do, Bond Girls can do better

Nobody does it better than 007, allegedly. For International Women’s Day 2023 - and in the interests of equity - let’s celebrate six occasions where women showed Bond they’re not merely his equal, but can do things better than him.

The aim of the International Women’s Day 2023 #EmbraceEquity campaign theme is to get the world talking about why equal opportunities aren't enough. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action. Here are six Bond Girls (or, if you prefer, Bond Women) who set empowering examples. Not all had an easy start in life and they have all overcome challenges along the way.

Honey Ryder

Better than Bond at: killing - with feeling!

It’s rare, but not unknown, for Bond to take pleasure in offing someone, prolonging their suffering to make himself feel better. Stranding Dominic Greene in the desert with only a can of motor oil to drink is particularly rich in schadenfreude, as is igniting Sanchez with the best man gift Bond received from his best mate, the doomed groom Felix Leiter. But most of the time Bond kills quickly, cleanly and in cold blood (“You’ve had your six.”).

When it comes to delicious poetic irony, can anything match Honey Ryder’s method for dispatching the man who sexually assaulted her? For a vengeful woman, a black widow spider is as laden with symbolism as it is deadly poison. “It took him a whole week to die,” she tells Bond with pride, who looks quietly terrified. Not something to make a habit of, perhaps, but a warning to all who set out to scorn women. Hell hath no fury…

Tracy Di Vicenzo

Better than Bond at: loving and leaving ‘em

The lyrics to Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang would have us believe that Bond is “from the school that loves and leaves 'em / A pity if it grieves 'em.” And indeed, that’s usually the case. But Tracy is the one who does the leaving here. After she finds something more sociable to do with Bond than shooting him, she leaves him alone in his hotel room. Bond is disquieted: this never happened to the other fella!

Throughout the film, Tracy shows herself to have no hang ups about sex, whether the act be transactional or something more. When Bond thinks out loud about the challenges of committing to their relationship, she is the one - not him - who is open to the possibility of just carrying on the way they are. In a world where women are told - implicitly or explicitly - to feel shameful about their sexual behaviours, Tracy sets an encouraging example.

Anya Amasova

Better than Bond at: driving (and driving people up the wall - literally)

Bond is pretty arrogant in The Spy Who Loved Me but he’s made bearable by being made the target of the film’s humour. Anya openly mocks Bond for his signature pretensions. After using Jaws’s van against him, reversing quickly and ramming him into the wall, she follows it up with a punchline appropriating Bond’s fussy famous Martini preference: “Shaken but not stirred.”

When their escape vehicle finally packs up in the middle of the desert, the agents take a peek under the bonnet. Bond is clueless but agent Amasova swiftly identities the problem with the cylinder-head gasket. What was that you said James about women drivers?

Pam Bouvier

Better than Bond at: bar fighting

A sleazy harbour-side bar is not exactly Bond’s milieu and he stands out like a sore thumb. Not the case for Bouvier who not only blends in but comes prepared, bringing an appropriately-sized weapon for the shenanigans that ensue.

In the ensuing bar fight, she saves Bond’s life several times while he gets to do a Buster Keaton routine involving swinging on lamps and battling a swordfish. Bond shows out of his depth he is by thanking her with the word “touché”, as if he was in a 18th Century duel and not a fist fight in a Floridian biker (boater?) bar in the height of the 1980s. As if to make it clear that Pam has thoroughly emasculated him, they even compare the size of their guns, with Bond’s found wanting. She makes a similar point by prodding Dario in the crotch with both barrels.

Pam looks fabulous in Kevlar too, taking the further precaution of wearing a bullet-proof bra, a look Bond would struggle to pull off convincingly.

Wai Lin

Better than Bond at: escaping, with style!

The Brosnan era had some of the strongest female characters, starting with GoldenEye. Let’s not forget it’s Natalya who saves the day TWICE: firstly by reprogramming the GoldenEye satellite and then distracting Trevelyan so Bond can gain the upper hand. But it’s Tomorrow Never Dies’s Wai Lin who gets my vote. Arguably, she ultimately succumbs to damselhood when she is captured by Stamper but she still manages to throw Bond the detonators to blow up the cruise missile, thereby ensuring Beijing remains standing.

My favourite Wai Lin moment comes during her and Bond’s escape from Carver’s Hamburg offices. Whereas Bond has to messily shoot his way to freedom across walkways and down stairways, Wai Lin finds a more elegant way of evading Carver’s henchmen, much to Bond’s chagrin.

Vesper Lynd

Better than Bond at: skewering people

An underappreciated aspect of the Bond character is his ability to read people. But it’s Bond who gets more than he gives after he attempts to sum up Vesper Lynd at their first meeting. Bond is not prepared to have the tables turned and he squirms in his seat as she delivers an uncannily accurate character assassination.

After correctly surmising that Bond is the sort of man who thinks of women as disposable pleasures, she schools him in sexual objectification, making him aware she will most definitely be checking out his “perfectly formed” derriere.