Eight years after the first female scientist came forward to report sexual harassment and assault while working in Antarctica, women are still being victimized in the region. Abuse is rife in the "emptiest, windiest, highest, driest, coldest place on Earth," said Scientific American, and efforts to address it have often left survivors feeling unsupported and unsafe.
Jane Willenbring was the first to report sexual harassment in Antarctica, said Wired. She alleged that she was repeatedly sexually harassed on a 1999 expedition by her supervisor, Boston University Geology Professor David Marchant.
After Willenbring went public, more women came forward. In 2018, five women alleged sexual harassment, sexual coercion and bullying on the inaugural Homeward Bound, an Australian leadership development voyage to Antarctica for women in the science and technology fields. Speaking to Grist, one woman claimed to have woken up next to a naked crew member with "no memory of what had happened."
"Efforts to address these problems have been slow" and often "inadequate," said The Daily Climate. "Despite investigations by government agencies and academic institutions," there is a "persistent culture of intimidation and abuse."
Last November, when a fresh Homeward Bound expedition set off for Antarctica with dozens of women on board, "more than 60 new rules had been put in place to ensure a safe and productive environment," organizer Fabian Dattner told Wired. Crew members are no longer allowed to mix with scientists, there is a psychologist and psychiatrist on board, and the ship's bar closes by 9.30 p.m. | 
