TOalso female scientists in Antarctica suffer harassment: almost 60 percent of the women who work in the US research base cannot rest easy, because even on the ice continent they have to fight against sexual abuse and assault. This is revealed in a report published by the National Science Foundation.
Harassment of female scientists also in Antarctica
If, in fact, there are more and more women who form part of the support teams, who lead expeditions and research stations, more and more are also those who report harassment in an environment that has been dominated by men for almost 2 centuries.
Prejudices and stereotypes
To the English newspaper The Guardian Dr Hanne Nielsen, Professor of Antarctic Law and Governance at the University of Tasmania, explained that “while Antarctic human history is recent, the history of women on the continent is even more recent» and their entry took place not without a few difficulties.
Female scientists in Antarctica suffer harassment like everywhere in the world (Photo by Vittoriano Rastelli/Corbis via Getty Images)
The role of women in the ice
There first woman to conduct scientific research in Antarctica it was, in 1957, the Soviet geologist Maria Klenova, but it remained a rather isolated case. So much so that, despite the evolution of society, the stereotypes remained and were perpetrated even on the ice.
The biologist Leyla Cárdenas always tells the British newspaper, that still today it is the women who cook and the men who carry the heavy kit. And that instead of changing these attitudes, the difficulties have amplified and now that women also have to fight for their own safety.
The reports of the scandal
Although the experiences of harassment and assaults suffered by women at remote Antarctic research stations have long been known, were two damning reports published at the end of last year to highlight the issue.
In October 2022 the NSF, the National Science Foundation of the United States declared to be «baffled by reports of sexual harassment, assault and stalking» highlighted by his study. AND a report on diversity, equity and inclusion within the Australian Antarctic Program he did the same, describing a «culture of widespread and low-level sexual harassment permeating the stations».
“Harassment is a fact of life”
Both reports constitute an unedifying read for the male universe: in the NSF document, in fact, not only did 95% of the women interviewed know someone who had been subjected to assault or harassment as part of the Antarctic program, but one interviewee stated that «sexual assault and sexual harassment are just facts of life herejust like the fact that Antarctica is cold and the wind is blowing.”
A scenario that leaves us perplexed and embittered and makes us understand that the challenge is not only to increase the number of female scientists working in Antarctica but, above all, to guarantee the conditions for them to remain there.
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