Five Polish female researchers who pioneered polar exploration in the Arctic and Antarctic are the protagonists of the film ‘Polar Women’, whose originator and co-creator of the footage is Dagmara Bożek from the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a polar explorer herself.

For centuries, it was assumed that polar research and exploration were typically male ventures. The names of the great explorers like Amundsen, Shackleton, Scott are well known, and among Polish polar explorers, Arctowski, Dobrowolski and Siedlecki became famous. Meanwhile, female polar explorers were also pioneers in many fields and contribute significantly to this history. Women have led the world’s leading polar research organisations, led stations, field teams and major international expeditions.

Dagmara Bożek from the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, who took part in two year-long polar expeditions to the Arctic and the Antarctic, became interested in the topic. She also wrote the book ‘Polar Women. Conquerors of the polar world’ and runs the website polarniczki.pl, where she posts interviews and memories of her expeditions.

Together with Kuba Witek, director and traveller, she intends to present the untold stories of Polish female pioneers of polar exploration. The documentary will feature five female polar explorers: Maria Agata Olech, a polar lichenologist, the first woman to lead a year-long expedition to the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station. Anna Krzyszowska-Waitkus, ecologist, who conducted pioneering research into the impact of humans and their activities on the polar environment; Anna Kołakowska, biotechnologist, the first Polish woman to winter in the Antarctic twice; Wieslawa Ewa Krawczyk, geographic chemist, who was the first woman to lead a scientific group during a glaciological expedition to Spitsbergen; Joanna Pociask-Karteczka, hydrologist, who was involved in hydrographic mapping of the unglaciated part of Spitzbergen.

Adrian Andrzejewski