International Women's Day: A timeline of Antarctic herstory

08/03/2025

Port Lockroy shop manager Dale Ellis discusses some of the key moments in Antarctic history from the perspective of women. 

Historically, there have long been barriers against women’s inclusion in Antarctic exploration. Most early policies and practices, including the structure and founding of Antarctic organisations, were created initially by men. Likewise, women were excluded from early exploration in Antarctica based on the opinion that women could not tolerate the extremes of the continent.

As a result, Antarctica has been described as the “womanless continent” but – as we discussed in our recent webinar Trailblazing Polar Women – that moniker has never been entirely accurate and it is certainly far from the truth today. Of course, this is not the only example of women and their stories being written out of history. 

The Port Lockroy team on International Women's Day 2025 (UKAHT/Dale Ellis) 

Women’s achievements and contributions have been routinely neglected, overlooked or misattributed. Few could name the Victorian alpinist who became the first woman to summit the Matterhorn and the Eiger or the Iñupiaq woman who was the sole survivor of a doomed Arctic expedition to Wrangel Island in the 1920s.

Fortunately, writers such as Rachel Hewitt and explorers like Elise Wortley among others are working hard to change this perception. With this in mind, I wanted to take a look at the history of Antarctica from the perspective of women. Below, is my curated timeline of Antarctic herstory.

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In 2021, a study highlighted how the first people to explore Antarctica’s surrounding waters, and possibly the continent in the distance, could have been Polynesians from New Zealand. While traditional Polynesian sailing customs did not allow women to sail, the oral histories of their expeditions were passed down through generations of Māori women. 

Te Kaiwhakatere o te Raki looking across the Ross Ice Shelf (© Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand)

These oral histories suggest the Polynesian explorer Hui Te Rangiora may have travelled to Antarctic waters in the seventh century. According to oral traditions, the ocean was named Te tai-uka-a-pia – the frozen ocean, with “pia” referring to arrowroot, which when scraped looks like snow.

1773: First recorded European women to travel to the sub-Antarctic region 

The first European woman believed to have visited the Antarctic region was Louise Séguin, who sailed on the 1772–1773 voyage of the Roland with French navy officer Yves Joseph de Kerguelen. Little is known about Louise other than she was a French 14-16-year-old girl who disguised herself as a boy to travel on the expedition which discovered the sub-antarctic Kerguelen Islands. I wish we knew more of this story.   

1773: First female botanist valet in the sub-Antarctic region 

Another female adventurer who used disguise to travel was Jeanne Baret, who went by the name Jean Baret to get herself a place on Louis Antoine de Bougainville’s expedition. She was the first known woman to circumnavigate the world and crossed into the sub-Antarctic zone during the rounding of Cape Horn.

Jeanne Baret (Public Domain)

She enrolled as a valet and assistant to the onboard naturalist Philibert Commerson. She was a valued member of the team with Bougainville commenting that she was an “expert botanist” in his diaries. It's not known if she was discovered on the ship to be a woman, but she did go on to manage Commerson’s household after the death of his wife and it is believed they had a child together.  

1833: First written description of sub-Antarctica from a woman's perspective

Storytelling and oral tradition stretches wide across human herstories. It wasn’t until 1833 that there was the first ever account of travelling in the sub-Antarctic from a woman’s perspective written down. Abby Jane Morell set sail on the Schooner Antarctic with her husband in 1833. What is significant about Abby’s journey to the sub-Antarctic region was that she had a written account of her trip. These included stories about meeting native communities, deaths on board the ship and the wildlife they had encountered. 

Abby Jane Morrell (Robert Miller, 1830-1843)

1935: Women set foot on Antarctica for the first time (officially)

Before the 1930s, it is widely stated that women only experienced the continent from the deck of a ship. But it was this decade that saw the first official recording of a woman setting foot on the continent. 

First, was Danish-Norwegian explorer Caroline Mikkelsen who went ashore in 1935, accompanying her husband who was working as a ship captain. It is believed she went ashore on the Tryne Islands, a group of small Antarctic islands around 5km (3.1mi) off the Antarctic mainland.

Ingrid Christensen (left) on the M/S Thorshavn in 1931 (Norwegian Polar Institute, Public Domain)

In 1937, four Norwegian women – Ingrid Christensen, Ingebjorg Rachiew, Solveig Wideroe and Augusta Sophie Christensen – officially became the first women to set foot on the Antarctic mainland. 

1944: First known trans woman to work and overwinter on the continent  

In 1944, Elke Mackenzie, a trans woman who was not living openly, overwintered with James Marr and the team that set up our flagship site Base A, Port Lockroy, during Operation Tabarin. You can read about her life in a blog post from last year's postmaster and museum manager, Laura.

Elke Mackenzie, August 1944  (Elke Mackenzie, BAS Archives)

1947: First women to overwinter in Antarctica

In just 10 short years, women went from just setting foot on the continent to spending extended periods of time there, and for Edith ‘Jackie’ Ronne and Jennie Darlington, this wasn’t just an Antarctic summer trip like the Port Lockroy team – they were the first women to overwinter in Antarctica. 

Like most women recorded in this period of Antarctic exploration, they were accompanying their husbands to the continent and in this instance, were on the Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition of 1947. 

Edith ‘Jackie’ Ronne and Jennie Darlington spent the 1947-48 winter at Stonington (Ronne Antarctic Research Expedition, Public Domain)

The trip established two firsts for women as Jackie was not just there as a companion. She was the first recorded woman to be a fully working member of the expedition team. Today, we see many women working in expedition teams – it’s incredible to think that Jackie was the first. They were based at Stonington, a building that UKAHT continues to look after to this day.  

1955-56: First female scientist within the Antarctic Circle 

It would be another 10 years before women were able to come to the continent and conduct work of their own. Whaling wives made up the majority of women in Antarctica during the 19th century, and it wasn’t until later that women participated in polar science, where women independently visited the continent in larger numbers, including conservationists and now also via adventure tourism. 

The first to do so was Russian Professor Maria Klenova who became the first female scientist to work in Antarctica. Maria was a geologist and is marked in history as not only leading the way for women in science on the continent but also being a key player in helping to establish the first Soviet Antarctic Atlas.

1969: The first women to reach the South Pole 

Dr Lola Jons, Kay Lindsay, Eileen McSaveney, Terry Tickhill, Pam Young and Jean Pearson were the first women to reach the South Pole. It’s utterly delightful and in the true spirit of women that they linked arms and stepped off the C-130 plane’s cargo ramp together, with no single one of them arriving first. The male expedition leader, however, insisted on joining them and standing in the middle… 

Arm-in-arm, the women step onto Antarctica at the South Pole (Public Domain)

1983: First British woman to join the British Antarctic Survey in Antarctica

Janet Thompson was the first woman to undertake scientific research with BAS but had already visited the continent and avoided their gender based exclusionary rules by joining an American expedition in 1976. She worked for BAS in the UK for 18 years before the organisation changed its policies – a watershed moment in itself – to allow women to travel to the continent. It’s crazy to think that women were banned until just two years before I was born! 

Janet Thompson (BAS Archives)

The previous policy was “justified” by citing the harsh and isolated conditions of the continent, which was rooted in historic bias. The UK parliament and media raised questions around the rules in BAS as early as the 1960s with the rise in the women’s rights movement and changes in attitudes towards women. 

We know that by excluding anyone based on a protected characteristic such as gender, race or sexuality limits and impacts all of us, because it prevents capable people from participating and contributing in vital areas of work. The UK was falling behind other countries, particularly New Zealand and the US, which had included women in their polar expeditions since the 1960s. The change in policy in 1983 was a watershed moment for gender equality in polar science. It’s just sad that it had taken so long. Janet received the Polar Medal for her work and even has a glacier named after her.  

1989-1990: First female base leaders  

Joan Russell and Monika Puskeppeleit were the first women to run bases on the continent at Casey and Georg von Neumayer respectively. Base leader was once a role traditionally held by men, and is still often dominated by men today. We have been incredibly proud to have Lou Hoskin as our base leader here at Port Lockroy for the 2024/25 season.

Monika Puskeppeleit at Mikkelsen Bay, Antarctica (Monika Puskeppeleit, CC BY-SA 4.0)

1993: First all-female team to cross the ice to the South Pole

American Ann Bancroft, all round icon and dream woman, led the first all-women expedition to the South Pole and is also the first woman to reach both the South and North Pole. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1995. 

1994: First woman to ski solo to the South Pole 

Norwegian Liv Arneson was the first woman to ski not only solo but unsupported to the South Pole. The expedition took her 50 days to travel the 1,200km (745mi). Absolutely incredible! This is one of those achievements that the more you think about the reality of it, the more insane and amazing you realise it is.

Liv Arneson was the first woman to ski solo to the South Pole (livarneson.com)

2011: First African-American woman to reach the South Pole  

Barbara Hillary was an American explorer, nurse, publisher, adventurer and inspirational speaker. She is also an icon of Antarctica as she went on to become the first African-American woman to reach the South Pole in 2011. Incredibly, she was 79 when she achieved this feat! Barbara was also the first African-American woman to reach both poles. Pretty cool.  

2018: First all-female team to cross Antarctica using muscle power alone

UKAHT's Head of Operations Sophie Montagne, member of the British Army’s Ice Maiden Expedition, which in 2018, became the first all-female team to cross Antarctica using muscle power alone. Sophie trained in Arctic Norway with the Royal Marines and the Norwegian Army, learning how to survive, and be comfortable, in a frozen environment. She now runs activities in Antarctica and manages the seasonal teams at the Port Lockroy base.

The Ice Maidens at the South pole – Sophie is one the left (Ice Maiden Expedition)

2022: First solo woman of colour to reach the South Pole

A Port Lockroy base favourite this year – and someone who I couldn’t write this piece without mentioning – is Preet Chandi MBE, AKA Polar Preet. She is an inspirational woman to us here in Port Lockroy and the first solo woman of colour to reach the South Pole. She talks often about wanting to inspire her nieces, which, as a proud auntie myself, I know appreciate how this drives so much of what I do as a woman, as the young girls in my family will come up behind me. 

Polar Preet at the South Pole (Preet Chandi)

Listen to our podcast featuring Preet, A Voyage to Antarctica. 

Today  

It has been less than 100 years since a woman officially first set foot on Antarctica. In the early 19th and 20th centuries, during Antarctic exploration, the presence of women on the continent was only really visible via the photographs of the wives of the men travelling to the continent. In 1919, Sir Ernest Shackleton refused the request of "three sporty girls" who wrote to him, seeking a place in his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition because they did "not see why men should have all the glory, and women none…" I wish we knew who they were! 

As a team, we are extremely proud to represent women on the continent and UKAHT leads the way by sending women south every year as part of the seasonal and field teams. Currently, conservator Lizzie Meek is at Blaiklock, completing essential work at the site and in 2022, the entire Port Lockroy team were women.  

In our latest webinar, we brought together the titans of British female leadership in the polar regions. Speakers included Professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of BAS; Jane Rumble, Head of the FCDO’s Polar Regions Department; and Kim Crosbie, UKAHT's Chair of Trustees and former Executive Director of the IAATO. It was chaired by UKAHT's very own Head of Operations and record-breaking polar explorer Sophie Montagne.

The broader understanding of diversity and representation within storytelling is a big part of my interest, you can read my post on Polar Pride and the histories of LGBTIQA+ people.

– Dale Ellis, Shop Manager, Port Lockroy