Timeline of women in Antarctica

This is a Timeline of women in Antarctica. This article describes many of the firsts and accomplishments that women from various countries have accomplished in different fields of endeavor on the continent of Antarctica.

650s

650

• Māori explorer, Ui-te-rangiora, is described in oral tradition as having reached Antarctic waters.^[1]

1770s

1773

• The first Western woman to visit the Antarctic region was Louise Séguin, who sailed on the Roland with Yves Joseph de Kerguelen in 1773.^[1]

1776-1777

• First female scientist in the sub-Antarctic region is botanist valet, Jeanne Baret.^[2]

1830s

1833

• First written account about sub-Antarctic travel from a woman's perspective is written by Abby Jane Morrell.^[1]

1839

• An unnamed female castaway who later traveled on the Eliza Scott and Sabrina journeyed "within sight of the continent."^[1]

1930s

1931

• Norwegian Ingrid Christensen and her companion, Mathilde Wegger, were the first recorded women to see Antarctica.^[3]

1935

• Caroline Mikkelsen of Denmark becomes the first woman to step foot on Antarctica.^[4]

1937

• Christensen 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, and Solveig Widerøeher.^[5][6][7]

1940s

1947

• Jackie Ronne is the first woman to explore Antarctica.^[8]

1947-1948

• Ronne and Jennie Darlington winter-over.^[9] They are the first women to spend a year on Antarctica.^[10]

1950s

1956

• Geologist Maria Klenova of the Soviet Union was the first woman to begin scientific work in Antarctica.^[11] Klenova helped create the first Antarctic atlas.^[12]
• Jennie Darlington publishes her book about spending a year in Antarctica called My Antarctic Honeymoon.^[13]

1957

• Ruth Kelley and Pat Heppinstall, airline stewardesses, become first women to visit a United States Antarctic base.^[9]

1959-1960

• Aithne Rowse is the first South African woman to overwinter in Antarctica.^[14]

1960s

1960

• Nel Law is the first Australian women to set foot in Antarctica, landing at Mawson.^[15]

1968

• First team of Argentinian women work on Antarctica. They include biologist Irene Bernasconi, bacteriologist Maria Adela Caria, biologist Elena Martinez Fontes and Carmen Pujals, a specialist in algae.^[16]
• The first New Zealand woman to visit the mainland of Antarctica was Marle Darby.^[17]

1969

• The United States Congress lifts the ban on American women working in Antarctica.^[18]
• First team of women scientists from the United States, led by Lois Jones, works on Antarctica.^[11]
• First group of women to reach the pole were Pam Young, Jean Pearson, Lois Jones, Eileen McSaveney, Kay Lindsay and Terry Tickhill.^[19] The women stepped off of the C-130 ramp at the same time.^[20]
• Christine Müller-Schwarze is the first woman to do scientific research on the continent of Antarctica.^[10]

1970s

1970

• Engineer Irene C. Peden is the first United States woman to work in the interior of Antarctica.^[21]

1974

• Mary Alice McWhinnie is the chief scientist at McMurdo Station, becoming the first United States woman serving in that capacity on Antarctica.^[10]
• McWhinnie and Mary Odile Cahoon become the first women to winter-over at McMurdo Station.^[10]
• Australian women are allowed to travel to the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT).^[22]

1974-1975

• First women civilian contractors on Antarctica were Elena Marty and Jan Boyd.^[10]

1975

• Eleanor Honnywill is the first woman to be awarded the Fuchs Medal from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).^[23]
• The House of Representatives in Australia is asked how many women have gone to Antarctica so far: the answer is one.^[15]

1975-1976

• Mary Alice McWhinnie is the first woman scientist to work at Palmer Station.^[10]
• The first three Australian women to visit the continent of Antarctica were Elizabeth Chipman, Jutta Hösel and Shelagh Robinson.^[24]

1977

• Meher Moos becomes the first Indian woman to visit Antarctica.^[25]

1978

• Silvia Morello de Palma of Argentina is the first woman to give birth on Antarctica on January 7.^[26]

1979

• First year the United States Navy advertises for "qualified female volunteers to over-winter in Antarctica."^[27]

1978-1979

• Michele Eileen Raney is the first woman physician to work year-round on Antarctica. She was also the first woman to winter at the South Pole.^[10]

1980s

1983

• First British woman, Janet Thomson, joins the British Antarctic Survey, and becomes the first British woman on Antarctica.^[28]
• On November 16, American, Brooke Knapp, is the first person to land at McMurdo Station for a round the world flight and the first person to pilot a business jet over both the North and South Poles.^[29]
• Geologist Sudipta Sengupta and Aditi Pant, a marine biologist are the first women scientists from India to take part in Antarctic Expedition.^[30][31]

1984

• Josefina Castellví is the first Spanish woman to participate in and coordinate an international expedition to Antarctica.^[32]

1985

• First woman married at the South Pole is Patricia Manglicmot to Randall Chambers.^[9]
• The first women to winter-over at Palmer Station were Ann Wylette and Becky Heimark.^[10]

1986

• The first Polar Medal is awarded to a woman, Virginia Fiennes, who was honored for her work in the Transglobe Expedition.^[23]
• Ann Peoples became the manager of the Berg Field Center in 1986, becoming the first U.S. woman to serve in a "significant leadership role."^[33]

1987

• Elizabeth Chipman publishes Women on the Ice: A History of Women in the Far South.^[13]

1988

• American Lisa Densmore is the first woman to summit Mount Vinson.^[34]

1987-1988

• First South African women to over-winter at Marion Island were Marianna Steenkamp and Marieta Cawood.^[23]

1988-1989

• Alison J. Clifton commands the Macquarie Island base, becoming the first woman to lead an Antarctic base.^[35]

1989

• Victoria E. Murden and Shirley Metz are the first women to reach the South Pole by land.^[9][36]
• Denise Allen is the first woman awarded the Australian Antarctic Medal.^[23]
• Australian, Diana Patterson, head of Mawson Station, becomes the first female station leader on Antarctica.^[15]

1989-1990

• Joan Russell at Casey Station and Monika Puskeppeleit at Georg von Neumayer are the first women to lead bases on the continent.^[35]

1990s

1990-1991

• First all-female over-wintering group spends the winter at Georg von Neumayer, with leader Monika Puskeppeleit.^[23]

1991

• In-Young Ahn is the first female leader of an Asian research station (King Sejong Station), and the first South Korean woman to step onto Antarctica.^[37]
• Serap Tilav is the first Turkish woman at the South Pole.^[38]
• Junko Tabei, who later becomes the first woman to complete the Seven Summits, climbs to the summit of Mount Vinson.^[39]

1992

• Judy Chesser Coffman, of the U.S. Navy, was the first female helicopter pilot to fly in Antarctica, in support of the National Science Foundation (NSF).^[40]

1993

• Ann Bancroft leads the first all-woman expedition to the South Pole and becomes the first woman to reach both the South and North Pole.^[35]

1994

• Liv Arnesen of Norway is the first woman to ski alone to the South Pole.^[8]
• Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann with Lin Onus become the first Indigenous Australians to visit Antarctica.^[41]

1996

• First year that women over-winter at the Halley Research Station.^[11]

1996-1997

• Laurence de la Ferrière is the first French woman to cross the Antarctic solo.^[42]

2000s

2000

• Zhao Ping and Lin Qing are the first Chinese women to over-winter at Antarctica.^[43]
• Caroline Hamilton and four other women become the first British women to walk to the South Pole as an all-women expedition.^[44]

2001

• Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen are the first women to ski across Antarctica.^[8]

2003

• Lynne Cox swims more than mile in Antarctic waters.^[45]
• US Coast Guard pilot Sidonie Bosin is the first female aviation officer in charge of air crews in the Antarctic.^[46]

2004

• Linda Beilharz is the first Australian woman to ski to the South Pole.^[47]
• Jackie Ronne publishes her memoirs about her year in Antarctica called Antarctica's First Lady: Memoirs of the First American Woman to Set Foot on the Antarctic Continent and Winter-Over as a Member of a Pioneering Expedition.^[13]

2005

• Merieme Chadid is the first Moroccan woman on Antarctica.^[48]
• Loretta Feris is the first black South African woman to work as a principal investigator for an Antarctic project.^[23]

2006

• Hannah McKeand sets coast-to-pole solo/unsupported record of 39 days, 9 hours and 33 minutes.^[49]
• Bettine van Vuuren of South Africa is the first female scientist Chief Scientist in the South African National Antarctic Programme's annual relief voyage in 2006.^[50][51][52]

2007

• Clare O'Leary is the first Irish woman to reach the South Pole.^[53]
• Sarah Ames of Germany is the first woman to complete a marathon on all seven continents.^[54]

2008

• Sumiyo Tsuzuki is the first Japanese woman to reach the South Pole.^[55]

2010s

2010

• Karla Wheelock from Mexico leads the first Latin American expedition in Antarctica.^[56]

2011

• First woman from Kuwait on Antarctica is Maryam al-Joan.^[57]
• First African-American woman to reach the South Pole is Barbara Hillary on January 6. She is also the first African-American woman to have been to both poles.^[58]

2012

• Felicity Ashton of the United Kingdom is the first person to ski alone across Antarctica, using only her own muscle power. She is also the first woman to cross Antarctica alone.^[59]
• The first woman to climb Mount Sidley was sixteen year old Romanian Crina Coco Popescu.^[60]
• Zeena Al Towayya is the first Omani woman, and Sahar Al Shamrani is the first Saudi women to travel to Antarctica.^[61]

2014

• On December 23, the Seven Summits Women Team becomes the first group of Nepali women to climb the Seven Summits when they reach the top of Mount Vinson.^[62]

2016

• First large (78 member) all-women expedition, Homeward Bound, goes to Antarctica.^[63]

See also

• Arctic exploration
• European and American voyages of scientific exploration
• Farthest South
• History of Antarctica
• List of polar explorers
• Women in Antarctica
• List of Antarctic women

References

Citations

Sources

• Blackadder, Jesse (2015). "Frozen Voices: Women, Silence and Antarctica". In Hince, Bernadette; Summerson, Rupert; Wiesel, Arnan. Antarctica: Music, Sounds, and Cultural Connections (PDF). Canberra: ANU Press. 
• Burns, Robin (2001). Just Tell Them I Survived!: Women in Antarctica. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1865083828. 
• Burns, Robin (2007). "Women in Antarctica: From Companions to Professionals". In Riffenburgh, Beau. Encyclopedia of the Antarctic. 1. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415970242. 
• Lewander, Lisbeth (2009). "Women and Civilisation on Ice". In Hansson, Heidi; Norberg, Cathrine. Cold Matters: Cultural Perceptions of Snow, Ice and Cold (PDF). Umea: Umea University. pp. 89–102. 
• Peden, Irene C. (1998). "If You Fail, There Won't Be Another Woman on the Antarctic Continent for a Generation". In Rothblum, Esther D.; Weinstock, Jacqueline S.; Morris, Jessica F. Women in the Antarctic. New York: The Haworth Press, Inc. ISBN 0789002477. 

External links

• Women in Antarctica