Women’s experiences from participating in all female arctic adventures

Abstract

Current understanding of the way in which females adventure and organise expeditions is widely unknown. This thesis explores the female concept of adventure with the intention to broaden the knowledge and awareness of women’s experiences in the Arctic. It is centred around the experiences of contemporary female adventurers who have completed self organised expeditions in the Arctic in all female teams. It specifically questions why these women chose the Arctic for their expeditions and what their definition of adventure is. Furthermore this study explores why women choose to journey in single gender groups and any significant meanings that they may draw from their experiences. It investigates any relationships these women may form while on an expedition specifically their connection to nature, how they function as a female only group in leadership and decision and how they gain sponsorship, grants and deal with social media. The purpose of this study is to develop a current understanding of the way in which females’ adventure unravelling any components of adventure expeditions that may hinder or add to their involvement in the outdoors. This study was conducted within a feminist phenomenological framework which allowed a critical and reflective analysis of the women’s experiences to transpire. In correlation with the values of feminist research this paper strives to challenge the gender inequality that is rife within the adventure community. In-depth interviews were held with six women, these informants were chosen for their commitment to adventure and for fitting the selection criteria of having completed a self organised all female expedition within the Arctic. Three of the women are well-known internationally for their competitive contribution to ski sport and the other three interviewees are well known locally. A much richer interpretation of these women was gathered by intertwining the worlds of both women with a media profile and those without. All of the women are privileged in the sense that they are from western world nations and have the opportunity to adventure, which represents a weakness within this study.