Women in Antarctica

[1] Early male explorers, such as Richard Byrd, named areas of Antarctica after wives and female heads of state.

[2] 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".

[8] 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.

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."

[19] This represented a "male's only club" in which participants believed women would spoil the "purity of a homosocial work, and play, environment.

[30] An article run in The Daily Herald newspaper of Chicago in 1974 described women finally coming to Antarctica as integrating the "land with a definite feminine touch.

"[31] The article described women's perfumed smells, ways of entertaining guests on Antarctica and the "dainty feet" of Caroline Mikkelsen.

[33] The first western woman to visit the Antarctic region was Louise Séguin, who sailed on the Roland with Yves Joseph de Kerguelen in 1773.

[33] The oldest known human remains in Antarctica was a skull that belonged to a young Indigenous Chilean woman on Yamana Beach at the South Shetland Islands, which dates back to 1819 to 1825.

[46] 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.

"[51] In 1948, the British diplomat, Margaret Anstee, was involved in the Falkland Islands Dependency Survey (FIDS) and helped make policy for the program.

[56] 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.

[57] Peden described 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.

"[58] 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.

[56] United States women in 1978 were still using equipment and arctic clothing designed for men, although "officials said that problem is being quickly remedied.

"[61] American Ann Peoples became the manager of the Berg Field Center in 1986, becoming the first woman to serve in a "significant leadership role".

"[50] British women scientists started working on curating collections as part of the BAS prior to being allowed to visit Antarctica.

[68] Later, in 1978, Argentina sent a pregnant woman, Silvia Morello de Palma, to the Esperanza Base to give birth and to "use the baby to stake [their] territorial claims" to Antarctica.

[70] 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.

[70][71] The National Science Foundation (NSF) started long-range planning in 1978, looking towards facilities that could accommodate a population made up of 25% women.

[81] One of the station managers, Ann Peoples, felt that a tipping point had been reached during the 1990s and that life for women on Antarctica became more normal.

[83] In the early 2000s, Robin Burns had found that female scientists who enjoyed their experience in Antarctica, were the ones who were able to finish their scientific work and to complete their projects.

[88] Homeward Bound was a 10-year program designed to encourage women's participation in science and planned to send the first large (78 member) all-women expedition to Antarctica in 2016.

[91] The first voyage departed South America in December 2016[92][90] 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 aims to connect women working in the Arctic and Antarctic sciences and provides them with a platform to share and exchange knowledge, experiences and opportunities.

When heavy equipment operator, Julia Uberuaga, first went to Antarctica in the late 70s and 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.

"[22] 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.

[22] 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.

"[97] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, women felt that Antarctic operations were "not at all sympathetic to the needs of mothers and that there is a deep concern lest a pregnant woman give birth in Antarctica.

[100] Some organizations, such as the Australian Antarctic Division, have created and adopted policies to combat sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender.