Few Girls Allowed

In the 1990s, only four women wintered with the Russian Antarctic expedition at the Bellingshausen and Novolazarevskaya stations. All were wives of station staff and handled the cooking for the crew. 

Yet, since the job required a lot of heavy lifting, male staff stepped in to help out. “In practice, all the heavy work in the galley was done by their husbands or other station staff, forgetting their direct responsibilities,” Lukin said. So that staff would not be “distracted” by non-scientific duties, only men are now hired to work the kitchens.

In recent years, some women scientists have taken part in expeditions during the summer. In 2005-2006, four women traveled with the Russian team: one worked as a biologist at Bellingshausen station, another worked as a hydrologist at Novolazarvskaya, and the other two were a hydrochemist and a programmer aboard the research vessel Akademik Fyodorov.