Women and Glaciers: Changing Dynamics in Sport, Science and Climate Change
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Date
2014-06
Authors
Rushing, Jacyln R.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Mountaineering became a popular, male-dominated, sport in the early 1800's,
which both reflected and propagated Victorian gentlemanly ideals of exploration. manly
vigor, and scientific discovery. Alpine exploration yielded the study of alpine glaciers,
thus the history and heroic rhetoric that came from mountaineering shaped much of the
culture of glaciology. Historically women have been discouraged from pursuing
mountaineering and glaciology because of pervasive and problematic gender ideologies
that held women as domestic, fragile, and non-scientific, on the one hand, and men as
adventurous, tough, intelligent, and brave on the other hand. These ideas about women's
and men's capabilities are still present and problematic in mountaineering and glaciology
today. Despite the deeply engrained gender discrimination in these fields, women have
consistently resisted the prejudiced gender dynamics and have successfully reached great
heights both in altitude and in their fields even as women often continue to be a minority
in some sports and in science. Today there is much debate about the minority of women
in sport and science. Given their gendered and interrelated histories, further exploration
of mountaineering and glaciology may help inform the current debates about gender in
other areas of sport and science.
Description
48 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Environmental Studies and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Arts, Spring 2014.
Keywords
Women and gender, Sports history, Science history, Climate change, Mountaineering, Glaciology