Women in Diving: splashing through the waves of adversity with grace.

March is designated as "Women's History Month," and in honor of all of the outstanding women who have broken down stereotypes and pushed the boundaries of scuba diving and science...I commend you. To a young female marine enthusiast like myself, there is nothing more encouraging than reading about the accomplishments of the many women in diving.

Before the 1940s, there was no such thing as SCUBA (self contained underwater breathing apparatus) and the available technologies in diving were severely limited to the military and commercial diving industry. I'm going to skip the extensive background of diving bells, the Mark V helmet, and decompression theory in order to jump to the part where women began shaking up the underwater world for the better.

It was the invention of open circuit scuba system, the Aqua Lung, by Jacques Cousteau (a French Naval Lieutenant) that really opened the doors into scientific and recreational diving in 1943. However, through the 1950s, the sport was male dominated. Women divers were few and far between. Lotte Hass, often referred to as the 'First Lady in Diving,' began her career in 1949 as an underwater film-maker and photographer. Zale Parry is attributed as another one of the first few female scuba divers. Parry crushed conventional limitations by setting a women's deep diving record to 209ft in 1954, and also helped run the first hyperbaric chamber for civilian divers in California. Sylvia Earle, an esteemed marine scientist, began diving in the 1950s and led the first team of women Aquanauts on the Tektite saturation diving experiment for NOAA in 1970. Know to many as, "Her Deepness," the nickname comes from her lifelong contributions to manned submersibles and deep water exploration.

Other women in diving from the 1950s include Maria Hults, a underwater photojournalist and one of the first NAUI female dive instructors, Frances Gaar, the first PADI female master instructor, Dolores Fisher, who opened the first USA recreational dive shop with her husband, and Eugene Clark, an ichthyologist and professor.

In an interview quoted by Hillary Viders' 2002 article about women divers, Sylvia Earle recalls that female Aquanauts were referred to as "Aqua Naughties." I'm glad these women were able to disregard the demeaning remarks and use their beautiful intellect to move forward in their careers. The early women divers were pioneers who followed their dreams whilst conquering adversity and sexism. Thank you for prying at the door to allow entry by more dedicated female explorers and scientists!

Left to right: young Lotte Hass, Zale Parry, Sylvia Earle

In the 1960s-1970s, many issues arose to complicate women's professional involvement in the dive industry. Male antagonists prompted ridiculous studies suggesting that women were unfit to dive while taking hormonal contraceptives and that they were inherently more susceptible to decompression sickness. Modern studies have negated such claims and ruled that "the bends" has no basis in gender. Personal insults and sexism shooed many avid female divers away from the sport during this time. Physical strength censure and blows to the female ability were on the lips of some male public safety divers and instructors. Nevertheless, times are changing and I would like of offer my sincere thanks to Valerie Taylor, Susan Bangasser, Lucy Bunkley-Williams, Hillary Viders, JoAnn Zighan and many many more female divers of the time.

It was the 1970s-1980s that saw an initial jump in women divers, explorers, and instructors. Women in the military and female Navy divers were now "allowed." Yes, allowed. Society deemed it alright to have talented and beautiful underwater television stars or dive explorers in the 50s, but the military and commercial dive industries were finally including women to work alongside men in dangerous deep missions. This page is dedicated to recognizing many outstanding women divers in the military: http://www.history.navy.mil/museums/keyport/WomenDivers/Wdivers2.htm.

I would also like to mention Tamara Brown, Donna Tobias, and Barbara Scholley for their amazing work as divers. 

Left to right: Tamara Brown, Donna Tobias, Barbara Scholley

When one thinks or reads about scuba diving in the 70s and 80s, sport technical diving is the excitingly controversial subject. These were the years where mixed gas diving was in it's infancy and when elite divers were pushing the depth limits to dive shipwrecks and extensive underwater cave systems. It was uncertain, it was dangerous, and there were many unfortunate accidents. That said, there were a few women that stood out during this time.

Evelyn Dudas made history as the first woman to dive the Northeastern wreck the Andrea Doria that lies at 230ft deep. She was one of the first women to use mixed gases for diving. Another great female, and veteran of the Doria, was Janet Bieser. Bieser is an experienced trimix diver and has logged thousands of dives on wrecks and in caves. She is well respected by even the heartiest male technical divers. If I am talking about the Doria, I can't go without mentioning Sally Wahrmann, another incredible female technical diver. This wreck has claimed many lives, but the training and diving proficiency of these female explorers allowed for countless experiences far beneath the ocean's surface.

Left: Evelyn Dudas today. Right: Janet Bieser about the Wahoo in the 80s.

Cristina Zenato and Sally Wahrmann today.

Getting into the 90s...when scuba diving really began expanding as a recreational sport, more and more women have gotten involved. Equipment manufacturers had begun to cater to the feme physique by coming out with women's wetsuits and buoyancy compensators. The recreational industry had really sprouted its legs and female underwater photographers, scientists, archaeologists, dive instructors, public safety divers, explorers and marine activists had taken the world by storm. Like everything else, discrimination still exists, but passionate female divers tend to pay no heed to inferior male or social disapproval.

Among the famed female explorers of today, Jill Heinerth has risen to the forefront of rebreather instruction and cave diving expeditions around the globe. Michelle Hall has dedicated her diving life to spreading awareness for marine conservation and educating young divers about the environment through film. Cristina Zenato, yet another cave diver, has become known as the world's shark whisperer of the Bahamas and has encouraged an alternate view about the great predators of the sea. Annie Crawley, a prestigious instructor and teacher, continues to inspire youth to connect with the Earth and to reach their fullest potential.

Annie Crawley and Jill Heinerth

The new millennium brought many more women to diving. Two of the recent marine conservationists and women in diving are Becky Kagan Schott and Julie Anderson. Schott is an avid cave explorer and has filmed feature productions for National Geographic. Her photos have appeared in countless diving magazines and her skills as a technical rebreather instructor have helped many more women delve into the technical diving field. Julie is the founder of a non-profit Shark Angels and has stirred up massive change in the way the world views sharks. She has spent hundreds of hours underwater with numerous large pelagic species and has dedicated her life to marine activism and to stopping overfishing of vulnerable populations.

Becky Kagan Schott and Julie Anderson

Today is International Women's Day. Although I think it is respectful and socially advantageous to have a day dedicated to honor women worldwide, the 'holiday' does not really mean anything special to me. I celebrate women everyday, as everyone should! Sexism and discrimination are still prevalent in America and the world as a whole. There is no way to completely escape the virulent demeanor of some individuals, especially in a male-dominated field. Even great male supporters of women in the diving industry will often make unknowing condescending remarks. When the phrase, "She can keep up with the boys," is completely eradicated as a compliment to strong, talented, dedicated, passionate female divers, only then will humanity understand the social adversity with which each of the mentioned women have be confronted. Though women make up a growing third of the newly recreational-certified divers, they are still a minority, and still face hardships in diving as a career. Again, to the many women leaders in diving before me, thank you with all my heart for your incredible efforts and passion. You all inspire me to continue my voyage in diving and marine conservation!

To learn more about the history of women in diving, please visit the Women Divers Hall of Fame website: http://www.wdhof.org/index2.shtml.