Women advance a ‘more civilised and sophisticated tone’

Press, 30 August 1988, Page 21

Women advance a ‘more civilised and sophisticated tone’

jJ-Ms Wendy Traill, of Geraldine, is only the second woman to winter over at Scott Base in its 30-year history. £she has the traditional women’s role of cleaner and kitchen hand, although, like the 11 men in the 1988 winter-over team, she is also part of the fire crew. • ’ Ms Traill was not asked to stay for the winter until the end of the summer season — in February. She jumped at the chance for this “once in a lifetime opportunity.” “It was easier to make the decision then, than it would have been before I came to Scott Base and got to know the guys,” she says. ' The completion of the Scott Base rebuilding programme this year made the Antarctic Division, D.5.1.R., decide it was time to employ a fulltime general duties person through the winter. In the past, the job was shared by the whole group. Ms Traill says she hoped the new position would make it easier for other women to have the opportunity to spend the winter at Scott Base. The first woman to winter over was Thelma Rodgers, of Christchurch, who was the scientific officer in 1979.

The psychologist who has made a study of people wintering over at Scott Base, Dr Tony Taylor, says that ideally at least two or more women should winter over together. “Males have a different orientation than females, so a woman should have another woman in order to maintain her own feminine side,” he says. Ms Traill can mix with the women at McMurdo Station, 3km away, so her isolation from female company is not total. In general, women have brought a levelling, mellowing effect on life in Antarctica, says Dr Taylor. “Their presence makes it more like a skiclub type of activity, certainly in summer.” The first two women to work in Antarctica wintered-over with their husbands in 1946-47 as part of the United States Finn Ronne Expedition. It was not until the 19705, however, that women began to make real inroads to the male bastions of Antarctica, says Dr Taylor. “Men kept the women out because they needed to prove to themselves that they had the indomitable qualities that would enable them to

triumph over deprivation and adversity,” he says in his book, “Antarctic Psychology.” It seems to be an extension of the frontier or wartime camaraderie of men together, away from the responsibilities and “veneer” of civilisation, pitting their strength against nature or other men. Dr Taylor says it is sometimes thought that the exclusion of women might reflect a homosexual preference, but no studies have found any evidence of signs of overt homosexuality. The Russians were the first to offer equal opportunity to the sexes in Antarctica, but even then for the summer season only. In recent times, whole families have gone to some of the South American bases on the Antarctic Peninsula, but there is no suggestion that other countries will follow the Chilean and Argentinian examples. Dr Taylor says the inclusion of women in Antarctic programmes cannot be seen “as a matter of no consequence,” and those who select and train Antarctic personnel will have to acknowledge that.

“Obviously, as more women are able to go to the Antarctic, the composition of the parties will change, the attraction of Antarctica will change, and those selected will need to have sufficient emotional resilience to be able to work with the opposite sex without creating emotional problems,” he says in his book. Personnel will need to have lectures on sexually transmitted diseases and contraception, together with open discussion about antagonism, frustration and jealousies that will envitably emerge when intense relationships are established, broken and shared. Problems will inevitably arise as Antarctic communities come to resemble any intensely bound and isolated community in any other part of the world, says Dr Taylor. No-one has made a specific study of the changes brought about by the presence of women in small Antarctic communities, but Dr Taylor says any observer can see that “the advent of women in Antarctica has brought a more civilised, sensitive and sophisticated tone to life at the bases.”