![WAIS Divide Field Camp Woman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/WAIS_Divide_Field_Camp_Woman.jpg)
There may have been women in Antarctica and exploring the regions around
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
for many centuries. The most celebrated "first" for women was in 1935 when
Caroline Mikkelsen
Caroline Mikkelsen (20 November 1906
– 15 September 1998, later married Mandel) was a Danish-Norwegian explorer who on 20 February 1935 was the first woman to set foot on Antarctica, although whether this was on the mainland or an island ...
became the first woman to set foot on one of Antarctica's islands.
["Women in Antarctica: Sharing this Life-Changing Experience"](_blank)
, transcript of speech by Robin Burns, given at the 4th Annual Phillip Law Lecture; Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; 18 June 2005. Retrieved 5 August 2010. Early male explorers, such as
Richard Byrd, named areas of Antarctica after wives and female heads of state. As Antarctica moved from a place of exploration and conquest to a scientific frontier, women worked to be included in the sciences. The first countries to have female scientists working in Antarctica were the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, South Africa and
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
.
Besides exploring and working as scientists, women have also played supportive roles as wives, fund-raisers, publicists, historians, curators and administrators of organizations and services that support Antarctic operations. Many early women on Antarctica were the wives of explorers. Some women worked with Antarctica from afar, crafting policies for a place they had never seen. Women who wished to have larger roles in Antarctica and on the continent itself had to "overcome gendered assumptions about the ice and surmount bureaucratic inertia. As women began to break into fields in Antarctica, they found that it could be difficult to compete against men who already had the "expeditioner experience" needed for permanent science positions. Women who were qualified for expeditions or jobs in Antarctica were less likely to be selected than men, even after a 1995 study by Jane Mocellin showed that women cope better than men with the Antarctic environment.
Historic barriers against inclusion
![Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica by NASA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Marie_Byrd_Land%2C_West_Antarctica_by_NASA.jpg)
Most early policies and practices, including the construction and creation of Antarctic organizations, were created initially by men. Women were originally excluded from early exploration in Antarctica based on the opinion that women could not handle the extremes in temperature or crisis situations.
Vivian Fuchs
Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs ( ; 11 February 1908 – 11 November 1999) was an English scientist-explorer and expedition organizer. He led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition which reached the South Pole overland in 1958.
Biography
Fuchs ...
, who was in charge of the
British Antarctic Survey
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...
in the 1960s, believed that women could not carry heavy equipment and that Antarctic facilities were unsuitable for women. The United States believed for many years that the
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...
of Antarctic was too harsh for women.
Antarctica was seen by many men as a place where men could imagine themselves heroic conquerors. In
Western culture
Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''.
image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
, frontier territories are often associated with
masculinity
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...
. Antarctica itself was envisioned by many male explorers as a "
virginal woman" or "monstrous feminine body" to be conquered by men. Women were often "invoked in terms of place naming and territorial conquest and later even encouraged to have babies in Antarctica." Using women as territorial conquest is probably at its most literal in the way that
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and Chile have flown pregnant women to Antarctica to give birth and stake a national claim to the area.
Silvia Morella de Palma was the first woman to give birth in Antarctica, delivering 3.4 kg (7 lb 8 oz)
Emilio Palma
Emilio Marcos Des Palma Morella (born 7 January 1978) is an Argentine man who was the first documented person born on the continent of Antarctica.
Biography
Palma was born in Fortín Sargento Cabral at the Esperanza Base, near the tip of the A ...
at the Argentine Esperanza base 7 January 1978.
Men enjoyed having a space that was free of women and which in the late 1940s "allowed them to continue the kind of male companionship and adventure they had enjoyed during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
." In one news article about Antarctica written in 1958, the writer describes the use of dazzlement: "On the womanless continent, the purpose of the dazzlement is not to catch the eye of a flirtatious blonde, but to attract spotters in the event that the explorers become lost in the frozen waste." Men's spaces in Antarctica resisted change. In the 1980s, there was an attempt by men to memorialize the "Sistine ceiling" of the Weddell hut in Antarctica as an Australian national heritage site of "high significance." The "Sistine ceiline" was covered in 92 different simply
pinups of women from the 1970s and 1980s. This represented a "male's only club" in which participants believed women would spoil the "purity of a
homosocial work—and play—environment." In 1983, the ''
San Bernardino County Sun'' newspaper published an article about Antarctica stating that it "is still one of the last
macho redoubts, where men are men and women are superfluous."
One scientist, Lyle McGinnis, who had been going to Antarctica since 1957 resented women in the field, saying that "men never grouse," but he believed that women complained and needed "comfort."
Not all men felt that way. Other men felt that women's presence made life in Antarctica better and one male engineer stated that without women around, "men are pigs." Sociologist
Charles Moskos stated that as more women are introduced to a group, there is less
aggression
Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...
and a "more civil culture develops."
Many of the careers in Antarctica are in the sciences, and women faced barriers there as well. As women attempted to work in science, arguments using
biological determinism,
evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolv ...
and popular notions of
neurobiology were used as excuses as to why there were fewer women in the sciences. These arguments described how "women are ill-adapted on evolutionary grounds for science and the competitive environment of the laboratory." Some women described feeling that they were "a bit of a joke" working in Antarctica, and felt that men regarded them as incapable.
Antarctic exploration and science research was often facilitated by national
navies
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includ ...
, who often did not want women on their ships.
The
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
used the excuse that "sanitation facilities were too primitive" on Antarctica as an excuse to bar women.
The U.S. Navy also considered Antarctica a "male-only bastion."
Admiral
George Dufek said in 1956 that "women would join American Teams in the Antarctic over his dead body."
He also believed that women's presence on Antarctica "would wreck men's illusions of being heroes and frontiersmen." Military groups also were worried about "
sexual misconduct."
As women began to try to become part of Antarctic exploration and research, change was slow. An article run in ''
The Daily Herald
''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' is the name of various newspapers.
''Herald'' or ''The Herald'' Australia
* ''The Herald'' (Adelaide) and several similar names (1894–1924), a South Australian Labor weekly, then daily
* '' Barossa and Light Heral ...
'' newspaper of Chicago in 1974 described women finally coming to Antarctica as integrating the "land with a definite feminine touch."
The article describes women's perfumed smells, ways of entertaining guests on Antarctica and the "dainty feet" of
Caroline Mikkelsen
Caroline Mikkelsen (20 November 1906
– 15 September 1998, later married Mandel) was a Danish-Norwegian explorer who on 20 February 1935 was the first woman to set foot on Antarctica, although whether this was on the mainland or an island ...
.
Eventually, however, both the "presence and impact of female Antarctic researchers has increased rapidly."
Early women involved in Antarctica
![Ingrid Christensen and Mathilde Wegger on voyage in 1931](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Ingrid_Christensen_and_Mathilde_Wegger_on_voyage_in_1931.jpg)
Oral records from Oceania indicate that women explorers may have traveled to the Antarctic regions like male explorers
Ui-te-Rangiora around 650 CE and Te Ara-tanga-nuku in 1000 CE, but this is unconfirmed. The first Western woman to visit the Antarctic region was
Louise Séguin, who sailed on the ''Roland'' with
Yves Joseph de Kerguelen in 1773.
The oldest known human remains in Antarctica was a skull that belonged to a young
Yaghan Yaghan, Yagán or Yahgan may refer to:
* Yahgan people, an ethnic group of Argentina and Chile
* Yahgan language
Yahgan or Yagán (also spelled Yaghan, Jagan, Iakan, and also known as Yámana, Háusi Kúta, or Yágankuta), is an extinct language ...
woman on
Yamana Beach
Yamana Beach ( es, Playa Yamana is an ice-free beach extending ca. on the west coast of Cape Shirreff in the north extremity of Ioannes Paulus II Peninsula, Livingston Island in Antarctica. It is surmounted by Toqui Hill on the east. The beach i ...
at the
South Shetland Islands
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...
, which dates back to 1819 to 1825. Her remains were found by the
Chilean Antarctic Institute
Chilean may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Chile, a country in South America
* Chilean people
* Chilean Spanish
* Chilean culture
* Chilean cuisine
* Chilean Americans
See also
*List of Chileans
This is a list of Chileans who ar ...
in 1985.
In the early twentieth century, women were interested in going to Antarctica. When
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...
advertised his 1914 Antarctic expedition, three women wrote to him, requesting to join, though the women never became part of the journey. In 1919, newspapers reported that women wanted to go to Antarctica, writing that "several women were anxious to join, but their applications were refused." Later, in 1929, twenty-five women applied to the
British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE), and were also rejected. When a privately funded British Antarctic Expedition was proposed in 1937, 1,300 women applied to join. None of those 1,300 were accepted, and in fact, after 3 years of attempted funding the expedition was cancelled with the onset of World War Two.
Women who were wives of explorers who were left behind "endured years of loneliness and anxiety."
Women like Kathleen Scott raised money for their husbands' journeys.
The first women involved in exploration of Antarctica were wives and companions of male travelers and explorers. Women accompanied men as "whaling wives" to Antarctic waters. The first women to see the continent of Antarctica was Norwegian
Ingrid Christensen
Ingrid Christensen (10 October 1891 – 18 June 1976) was an early polar explorer. She was known as the first woman to view Antarctica and land on the Antarctic mainland.
Early life
Christensen (née Dahl) was the daughter of Alfhild Freng Dahl ...
and her companion, Mathilde Wegger, both of whom were traveling with Christensen's husband. The first woman to step onto the land of Antarctica, an island, was
Caroline Mikkelsen
Caroline Mikkelsen (20 November 1906
– 15 September 1998, later married Mandel) was a Danish-Norwegian explorer who on 20 February 1935 was the first woman to set foot on Antarctica, although whether this was on the mainland or an island ...
in 1935. Mikkelsen only briefly went ashore, and was also there with her husband. Later, after her husband died, Mikkelsen remarried and didn't talk about her experience in Antarctica in order "to spare his feelings." Christensen went back to Antarctica three times after she first glimpsed the land. She eventually landed at
Scullin monolith, becoming the first woman to set foot on the Antarctic mainland, followed by her daughter, Augusta Sofie Christensen, and two other women:
Lillemor Rachlew
Ingebjørg Lillemor Rachlew (née Enger; 1902-1983) was a Norwegian polar explorer. She was one of four Norwegians who were the first women to set foot on the Antarctic mainland. After their landing in 1937 the Four Ladies Bank in Prydz Bay was n ...
, and Solveig Widerøe.
[Bogen, H. (1957). ''Main events in the history of Antarctic exploration''. Sandefjord: Norwegian Whaling Gazette, page 85] Because the women believed the landing wasn't an actual "first," they didn't make much of their accomplishment.
In the years of 1946 and 1947,
Jackie Ronne and
Jennie Darlington were the first women to spend the year in Antarctica.
When Ronne and Darlington decided to accompany their husbands in 1946 to Antarctica, men on the expedition "signed a petition trying to stop it happening." Ronne worked as the mission's "recorder." Ronne and Darlington both wrote about their experiences on the ice, and in the case of Darlington's book, about how conflict between team members also "strained relations between the two women." One of the ways that Darlington tried to fit in with the men of the group was to make herself as "inconspicuous within the group as possible."
One man, first seeing Darlington arrive at the Antarctic base, "fled in fright, thinking that he'd gone mad."
Both women, upon returning from Antarctica downplayed their own roles, letting "their husbands take most of the honour."
In 1948, the British diplomat,
Margaret Anstee
Dame Margaret Joan Anstee, DCMG (25 June 1926 – 25 August 2016) was a British diplomat who served at the United Nations for over four decades (1952–93), rising to the rank of an Under-Secretary-General in 1987. She was the first woman to hol ...
, was involved in the
Falkland Islands Dependency Survey (FIDS) and helped make policy for the program.
Further exploration and science
![Irene Bernasconi - Las investigadoras en la Base Esperanza 1968](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Irene_Bernasconi_-_Las_investigadoras_en_la_Base_Esperanza_1968.jpg)
Women scientists first began researching Antarctica from ships. The first woman scientist,
Maria V. Klenova of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, worked on the ships ''Ob'' and ''Lena'' just off the Antarctic coastline in 1955 to 1956. Klenova's work helped create the first Antarctic
atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth.
Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...
.
Women served on Soviet Union ships going to Antarctica after 1963. The first women to visit a US station and the first to fly to Antarctica were
Pat Hepinstall and Ruth Kelley, Pan Am flight attendants, who spent four hours on the ground at the
McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...
on 15 October 1957.
Often women going to Antarctica had to be approved in both official and unofficial ways. An early candidate for becoming one of the first women scientists to go to Antarctica was geologist Dawn Rodley, who had been approved of not only by the expedition sponsor, Colin Bull, but also by the wives of the male team-members.
Rodley was set to go in 1958, but the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
, who were in charge of
Operation Deep Freeze
Operation Deep Freeze (OpDFrz or ODF) is codename for a series of United States missions to Antarctica, beginning with "Operation Deep Freeze I" in 1955–56, followed by "Operation Deep Freeze II", "Operation Deep Freeze III", and so on. (There w ...
, refused to take her to Antarctica.
The Navy decided that sending a four-woman team would be acceptable, and Bull began to build a team including
Lois Jones, Kay Lindsay,
Eileen McSaveney and Terry Tickhill.
These four women were part of the group who became the first women to visit the South Pole. Jones's team worked mainly in
Wright Valley. After their return, Bull found that several of his male friends resented the addition of women and even called him a "traitor".
The first United States all-female team was led by Jones in 1969.
Her team, which included the first women to set foot on the South Pole, were used by the navy as a publicity stunt, "paraded around" and called "Powderpuff explorers". The first United States woman to step into the Antarctic interior in 1970 was engineer
Irene C Peden, who also faced various barriers to her working on the continent. Peden describes how a "mythology had been created about the women who'd gone to the coast – that they had been a problem," and that since they had not published their work within the year, they were "heavily criticized." Men in the Navy in charge of approving her trip to Antarctica were "dragging their feet", citing that there were not women's bathrooms available and that without another female companion, she would not be allowed to go. The admiral in charge of transportation to Antarctica suggested that Peden was trying to go there for adventure, or to find a husband, rather than for her research.
Despite her setbacks, including not receiving critical equipment in Antarctica, Peden's research on the continent was successful.
![Ursula B](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Ursula_B._Marvin_in_Antarctica.jpg)
The first two U.S. woman to winter at a U.S. Antarctic research station were
Mary Alice McWhinnie
Mary Alice McWhinnie (August 10, 1922 – March 17, 1980) was an American biologist, professor at DePaul University and an authority on krill. From Chicago, Illinois, she was the first woman to sail for two months in Antarctic waters aboard the ...
, who was the station science leader (chief scientist) at
McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...
in 1974; she was accompanied by a
nun and biologist,
Mary Odile Cahoon
Mary Odile Cahoon OSB (July 21, 1929 – October 2, 2011) was an American Benedictine nun who was among the first women to do research in Antarctica.
In 1974, Mary Odile Cahoon and Mary Alice McWhinnie became the first women scientists to overwint ...
. United States women in 1978 were still using equipment and
arctic clothing
Extreme cold weather clothing refers to clothing for arctic or mountainous areas. Its primary function is to trap air as an insulator to prevent heat loss from the wearer's body. Secondary and necessary is to conduct water vapor away from the body ...
designed for men, although "officials said that problem is being quickly remedied."
American Ann Peoples became the manager of the Berg Field Center in 1986, becoming the first woman to serve in a "significant leadership role".
British women had similar problems to the Americans. The director of the
British Antarctic Survey
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...
(BAS) from 1959 to 1973 was
Vivian Fuchs
Sir Vivian Ernest Fuchs ( ; 11 February 1908 – 11 November 1999) was an English scientist-explorer and expedition organizer. He led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition which reached the South Pole overland in 1958.
Biography
Fuchs ...
, who "firmly believed that the inclusion of women would disrupt the harmony and scientific productivity of Antarctic stations."
British women scientists started working on curating collections as part of the BAS prior to being allowed to visit Antarctica.
Women who applied to the BAS were discouraged. A letter from BAS personnel sent to a woman who applied in the 1960s read, "Women wouldn't like it in Antarctica as there are no shops and no hairdresser." The first BAS woman to go to Antarctica was
Janet Thomson in 1983 who described the ban on women as a "rather improper segregation."
Women were still effectively barred from using UK bases and logistics in 1987. Women didn't winter-over at the
Halley Research Station until 1996, forty years after the British station was established.
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
sent four women scientists – biologist
Irene Bernasconi
Irene Bernasconi (29 September 1896 – 7 July 1989) was an Argentine marine biologist specializing in echinoderm research and best known for her work in the Antarctic. She was the first echinoderm specialist in Argentina and spent 55 years condu ...
,
bacteriologist
A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology -- a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically Pathogenic bacteria, pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learnin ...
María Adela Caría, biologist Elena Martinez Fontes and algae expert
Carmen Pujals – to Antarctica in 1968.
They were the first group of female scientists to conduct research in Antarctica. Bernasconi was the first woman to lead an Antarctic expedition. She was aged 72 at the time. Later, in 1978, Argentina sent a pregnant woman, Silvia Morello de Palma, to the
Esperanza Base
("Permanence, an act of sacrifice")
, pushpin_map = Antarctica
, pushpin_map_alt = Location of Esperanza Base in Antarctica
, pushpin_map_caption = Location of Esperanza Base in Antarctica
, pushpin_mapsize ...
to give birth and to "use the baby to stake
heir
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
territorial claims" to Antarctica.
Once Australia opened up travel to Antarctica to women,
Elizabeth Chipman
Elizabeth Chipman (born 1934) is an Australian writer, administrator and Antarctic pioneer. In 1975–76, she was one of the first Australian women to set foot on the Antarctic mainland.
From 1954 to 1977, Chipman was with the Australian Antarc ...
, who first worked as a typist at Casey Station in 1976, chronicled all of the women to travel there up to 1984. Chipman worked to find the names of all women who had ever been to or even near Antarctica and eventually donated 19 folio boxes of her research to the
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
.
Women gain ground
The
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
(NSF) started long-range planning in 1978, looking towards facilities that could accommodate a population made up of 25% women.
In the 1979–1980 season, there were only 43 women on the continent. By 1981, there were nearly one woman for every ten men in Antarctica.
In 1983, the ratio was back to 20 men for every woman.
In the 1980s,
Susan Solomon's research in Antarctica on the
ozone layer
The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth's stratosphere that absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation. It contains a high concentration of ozone (O3) in relation to other parts of the atmosphere, although still small in rela ...
and the "ozone hole" causes her to gain "fame and acclaim."
In Spain,
Josefina Castellví
Josefina Castellví Piulachs (born in Barcelona, 1 July 1935) is a Spanish oceanographer, biologist and writer. Castellvi Peak on Hurd Peninsula, on Livingston Island in Antarctica is named in her honour. In 1984 she was the first Spaniard to pa ...
, helped coordinate and also participated in her country's expedition to Antarctica in 1984.
Later, after a Spanish base was constructed in 1988, Castellví was put in charge after the leader, Antoni Ballester had a stroke.
The first female station leader on Antarctica was Australian,
Diana Patterson, head of
Mawson Station
The Mawson Station, commonly called Mawson, is one of three permanent bases and research outposts in Antarctica managed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). Mawson lies in Holme Bay in Mac. Robertson Land, East Antarctica in the Austra ...
in 1989. The first woman station leader in charge of an American Antarctic station was LT Trina Baldwin, CEC, USN (Civil Engineer Corps, United States Navy). The first all-female overwintering group is from Germany and spends the 1990–1991 winter at
Georg von Neumayer, with the first German female station leader and medical doctor
Monika Puskeppeleit. In 1991
In-Young Ahn is the first female leader of an Asian research station (
King Sejong Station
The King Sejong Station is a research station for the Korea Antarctic Research Program that is named after King Sejong the Great of Joseon (1397–1450).
Established on February 17, 1988, it consists of 11 facility buildings and two observato ...
), and the first South Korean woman to step onto Antarctica.
There were approximately 180 women in Antarctica in the 1990–1991 season. Women from several different countries were regularly members of overwintering teams by 1992. The first all-women expedition reached the South Pole in 1993.
Diana Patterson, the first female station leader on Antarctica, saw a change happening in 1995. She felt that many of the sexist views of the past had given way so that women were judged not by the fact that they were women, but "by how well you did your job."
During the 1994 austral winter, women managed all three of the American Antarctic stations—Janet Phillips at
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Karen Schwall at
McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...
, and Ann Peoples at
Palmer Station.
Social scientist, Robin Burns, studied the social structures of Antarctica in the 1995–1996 season. She found that while many earlier women struggled, in 1995, there was more acceptance of women in Antarctica. Also by the mid-1990s, one of the station managers, Ann Peoples, felt that a
tipping point had been reached and women on Antarctica became more normalized.
There were still men in Antarctica who were not afraid to voice their opinion that women should not "be on the ice," but many others enjoyed having "women as colleagues and friends." Women around this time began to feel like it was "taken for granted now that women go to the Antarctic."
Studies done in the early 2000s showed that women's inclusion in Antarctic groups were beneficial overall. In the early 2000s, Robin Burns has found that female scientists who enjoyed their experience in Antarctica were ones who were able to finish their scientific work, to see through the project into completion.
Recent history
![Women at 2013 Icestock](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Women_at_2013_Icestock.jpg)
American
Lynne Cox
Lynne Cox (born 2 January 1957) is an American long-distance open-water swimmer, writer and speaker. She is best known for being the first person to swim between the United States and the Soviet Union, in the Bering Strait, a feat which has been ...
swam a mile in Antarctic water in 2003.
In 2005, writer Gretchen Legler describes how there were many more women in Antarctica that year and that some were lesbians.
International Women's Day
International Women's Day (IWD) is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against wom ...
in 2012 saw more than fifty women celebrating in Antarctica and who made up 70% of the International Antarctic Expedition. In 2013, when the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
opened their first Antarctic Lab,
Corina Brussaard
Corina Brussaard is a leading scientist for Antarctic viral ecology working for the Royal Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) and is a Special Professor of Viral Ecology at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics of the University of ...
was there to help set it up.
Homeward Bound Homeward may refer to:
* ''Homeward'' (film), a 2019 film
* "Homeward" (song), a song by The Sundays from their 1997 album ''Static and Silence''
* "Homeward" (''TNG'' episode), a ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode from the seventh seaso ...
, is a 10-year program designed to encourage women's participation in science that planned to send the first large (78 member) all-women expedition to Antarctica in 2016. The first group consisted of 76 women and arrived in Antarctica for three weeks in December 2016.
Fabian Dattner and
Jess Melbourne-Thomas founded the project and the Dattner Grant is providing funding, with each participant contributing $15,000 to the project.
Homeward bound includes businesswomen and scientists who look at
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
and women's leadership.
The plan is to create a network of 1,000 women who will become leaders in the sciences.
The first voyage departed South America in December 2016
An all-woman team of
United Kingdom Army soldiers, called Exercise Ice Maiden, started recruiting members in 2015 to cross the continent under their own power in 2017.
It intended to study women's performance in the extreme antarctic summer environment. A team of six women completed the journey in 62 days after starting on 20 November 2017.
Currently, women make up 55% of membership in the
Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS).
In 2016, nearly a third of all researchers at the South Pole were women.
The
Australian Antarctic Program (AAP) makes a "conscious effort to recruit women."
A social media network has recently been created "Women in Polar Science" it aims to connect women working in Arctic and Antarctic science and provides them with a platform to share an exchange knowledge, experiences and opportunities.
Sexual harassment and sexism
When heavy equipment operator, Julia Uberuaga, first went to Antarctica in the late 70s, early 80s, she recalled that "the men stared at her, or leered at her, or otherwise let her know she was unwelcome on the job."
Rita Matthews, who went to Antarctica during the same period as Uberuaga said that the "men were all over the place. There were some that would never stop going after you."
In 1983, Marilyn Woody described living at McMurdo station and said, "It makes your head spin, all this attention from all these men."
Then she said, "You realize you can put a bag over your head and they'll still fall in love with you."
Another scientist, Cynthia McFee, had been completely shut out of the "male camaraderie" at her location and had to deal with loneliness for long periods of time.
Martha Kane, the second woman to overwinter at the South Pole, experienced "negative pressure" from men with "some viewing her as an interloper who had insinuated herself into a male domain."
In the 1990s, some women experienced stigma in Antarctica. These women were labeled "
whores" for interacting with men and those who did not interact with men were called "
dykes."
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, women felt that Antarctic operations were "not at all sympathetic to the needs of mothers, and there is a deep concern lest a pregnant woman give birth in Antarctica."
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...
is still a problem for women working in Antarctica, with many women scientists fielding unwanted sexual advances over and over again. Women continue to be outnumbered in many careers in Antarctica, including fleet operations and
trades.
Some organizations, such as the Australian Antarctic Division, have created and adopted policies to combat sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender. The
United States Antarctic Program
The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the A ...
(USAP) encourages women and minorities to apply.
Women record-breakers
Silvia Morella de Palma was the first woman to give birth in Antarctica, delivering 3.4 kg (7 lb 8 oz) Emilio Palma at the Argentine Esperanza base 7 January 1978.
In 1988 American Lisa Densmore became the first woman to reach the summit
Mount Vinson
Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located a ...
.
In 1993, American
Ann Bancroft
Ann Bancroft (born September 29, 1955) is an American author, teacher, adventurer, and public speaker. She was the first woman to finish a number of expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fa ...
led the first all woman expedition to the South Pole.
Bancroft, and Norwegian
Liv Arnesen, were the first women to ski across Antarctica in 2001.
In 2010, the first female chaplain to serve on the continent of Antarctica was Chaplain, Lt Col Laura Adelia of the U.S. Air Force, where she served the people at McMurdo Station.
Maria Leijerstam became the first person to cycle to the South Pole from the edge of the continent in 2013; she cycled on a
recumbent tricycle.
Anja Blacha
Anja Karen Blacha (born 18 June 1990) is a German mountaineer. Blacha holds a number of climbing records: in 2017, she became the youngest German woman to successfully climb Mount Everest and the youngest German overall to climb all Seven Summits a ...
set the record for the longest solo, unsupported, unassisted polar expedition by a woman in 2020.
Honors and awards
In 1975,
Eleanor Honnywill became the first woman to be awarded the
Fuchs Medal
The Fuchs Medal is a medal awarded by The British Antarctic Survey for "''Outstanding devotion to the British Antarctic Survey's interests, beyond the call of normal duty, by men or women who are or were members of the Survey, or closely connected ...
from the
British Antarctic Survey
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...
(BAS).
The first woman to receive a
Polar Medal was
Virginia Fiennes, in 1986; she was honored for her work in the
Transglobe Expedition
The Transglobe Expedition (1979–1982) was the first expedition to make a longitudinal (north–south) circumnavigation of the Earth using only surface transport. British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes led a team, including Oliver Shepard and Char ...
. She was also the first woman to "winter in both polar regions."
Denise Allen was the first woman awarded the
Australian Antarctic Medal
The Australian Antarctic Medal (stylised as Post-nominal letters, post-nominal), originally designated the Antarctic Medal until 18 December 1997, is a meritorious service award of the Australian honours and awards system, instituted by Letter ...
, in 1989.
See also
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Arctic exploration
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European and American voyages of scientific exploration
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Farthest South
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First women to fly to Antarctica
The first women to fly to Antarctica were the American flight attendants Patricia (Pat) Hepinstall of Holyoke, Colorado and Ruth Kelley of Houston, Texas who were members of the crew on the Pan American flight which landed at the US McMurdo Statio ...
*
History of Antarctica
*
List of Antarctic women
This is a list of Antarctic women. It includes explorers, researchers, educators, administrators and adventurers. They are arranged by the country of their latest citizenship rather than by country of birth.
Argentina
*Viviana Alder (born 1957), ...
*
List of polar explorers
*
Timeline of women in Antarctica
*
Women in science
References
Citations
Sources
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External links
Women in AntarcticaGuide to the Papers of Elizabeth Chipman* Women in Antarctic science editathons
**
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including the Southern Ocean.
SCAR's scien ...
**
Women in Red
Women in Red is a WikiProject addressing the current gender bias in Wikipedia content.
The project focuses on creating content regarding women's biographies, women's works, and women's issues.
The project is named after the hyperlinks in exi ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Women in Antarctica
Women scientists
People of Antarctica