Antarctica – the woman and the quest for a polar career

• Main Author: Clery, Regina
• Language: English
• Published: University of Canterbury 2018
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/16124

The perceptions of female identity and the characteristics to what is deemed feminine can vary from culture to culture. The naming of vehicles and machinery with feminine sounding names is evident across western cultures from America, Europe and Australia. The base stations on Antarctica are no exception and pictured evidence by Anne Noble suggest the “gendered nature of our relationship to the place” (Wells 2011). In the exhibition ‘The End of the Earth’ Wells (2011) brings to our attention the photographs that Noble took in Antarctica in 2008, of inanimate objects such as trucks and other vehicles that were branded with feminine sounding names like “Kimberley, Reba, Trixie and Patsy”. Is this observation a reflection of the relationship that people have with Antarctica – the woman? Are women working in Antarctic programs given the acknowledgement and recognition that is deserved of their Polar Careers and if so, are women rewarded in the same light and traditions as men? Although not a heavily gendered discussion, the following review seeks out the extent to which women are rewarded for their success in Antarctica after years of exclusion from the continent.