An initiative started by an Australian woman will see the largest all-female expedition set sail to Antarctica.
The expedition comprising 76 scientists and founded by entrepreneur and leadership coach Fabian Dattne, is due to set sail from Argentina on Friday in a quest to promote women in science and highlight the impact of climate change on the planet.
The international team will brave sub-zero temperatures to undergo a 20-day bootcamp on the frozen continent aimed at developing their leadership skills and challenging male dominance of senior scientific roles.
Women make up only 28 per cent of the world's researchers and are particularly under-represented at senior levels, UNESCO says.
Yet greater female leadership is needed to fight climate change, which disproportionately affects women, according to Dattner, co-founder of the Antarctica initiative, Homeward Bound.
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"Mother Nature needs her daughters," said Dattner.
Dattner said she decided to set up the initiative after hearing a group of polar scientists joking that candidates had to have a beard to land a leadership role in Antarctic science.
"The message of Homeward Bound is to bring together this intelligent, capable group of women who are not seen, not recognised, and in large part somewhat sidelined," Dattner said.
Many scientists on the expedition have experienced some form of sexual harassment, discrimination and misogyny in their careers, she added.
British marine ecologist Raeanne Miller said there was solidarity among colleagues as they swapped stories of the difficulties they were facing in their careers and the challenge of striking a work-life balance.
"In science sometimes it is hard to pull yourself out of your research focus and broaden your prospective," Miller said.
"Often you feel as if you are the only one experiencing what you are experiencing."
Dattner hopes more than 1,000 women over the next 10 years will take part in the initiative to create a network of female scientists.
