Soviet Female Experts in the Polar Regions

Abstract

Arctic exploration was one of the promoted endeavours of the Soviet Union and from the 1930s it was represented as the conquering of the severe ice desert by the Soviet people. Due to the harsh climate, the popular polar hero was generally male. There were, however, many women whose lives were closely connected with exploration of the Polar Regions and some became leading experts in the field. In its study of women scientists, this chapter focuses on the case studies of Maria Klenova (a leading marine geologist and the first Soviet female scientist to arrive in Antarctica) and Tatyana Rimskaya-Korsakova (who devoted much of her professional life to urban planning in remote Arctic territories). The chapter examines how Soviet female scientists used individual strategies in their professional lives, what the particular constraints and possible advantages were for them and how they and their contemporaries reflected on their experiences.