CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — Many ladies who work at McMurdo Station, the principle United States analysis base in Antarctica, say the remoted atmosphere and macho tradition have allowed sexual harassment and assault to flourish.
The Nationwide Science Basis, which oversees the U.S. Antarctic Program, printed a report in 2022 by which 59% of ladies stated they’d skilled harassment or assault whereas on the ice.
However the issue goes past the harassment itself, The Related Press discovered. In reviewing courtroom data and inside communications, and in interviews with greater than a dozen present and former workers, the AP uncovered a sample of ladies who stated their claims of harassment or assault had been minimized by their employers, typically resulting in them or others being put in additional hazard.
A number of Antarctic staff spoke publicly about their experiences to the AP for the primary time.
GRABBING A HAMMER
Mechanic Liz Monahon informed the AP a person on the base threatened her in 2021, however her employers did little to guard her. So she grabbed a hammer and stored it on her always.
“If he got here anyplace close to me, I used to be going to begin swinging at him,” Monahon stated. “I made a decision that I used to be going to outlive.”
It seems the person had a prison document in New Zealand and had breached a safety order earlier than he’d deployed, a choose later discovered. Employees stated they took issues into their very own fingers and stored Monahon protected by sending her away from the bottom on a mission over the ocean ice. The person later left Antarctica.
In a recorded interview, a human assets consultant informed Monahon that issues with the bottom’s consuming tradition had been happening for years.
A PATTERN OF PROBLEMS
Monahon’s case wasn’t an anomaly. A meals employee in 2019 informed her bosses she’d been sexually assaulted by a coworker. Two months later, the girl was fired.
In one other case, a lady who reported {that a} man in a senior position had groped her stated she was made to work alongside him once more.
One other lady stated she was raped, however the incident was later misclassified by the person’s employers as merely harassment.
AGENCIES RESPOND
The NSF stated it improved security in Antarctica final 12 months. It now requires Leidos, the prime contractor, to right away report incidents of sexual assault and harassment. The NSF stated it additionally created an workplace to cope with such complaints, offered a confidential sufferer’s advocate, and established a 24-hour helpline.
Leidos informed Congress in December it will set up peepholes on dorm room doorways, restrict entry to grasp keys that might open a number of bedrooms, and provides groups within the subject an additional satellite tv for pc cellphone.
However the complaints of violence didn’t cease with the NSF report. 5 months after its launch, a lady at McMurdo stated she’d been assaulted by a male colleague. His trial is scheduled for November.
Monahon stated she hopes her story prompts contractors in Antarctica to face extra accountability sooner or later.