Female Divers- Past and Present

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In addition to Her Deepness and the others already mentioned, Zale Parry... set the women's deep diving record back in the 1950s, in a number of episodes of "Sea Hunt," featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated way back when
 
I would include Evelyn Dudas first woman to dive Andrea Doria. She still owns a dive shop and you could possibly do a phone interview.

Jill Heinerth has do a lot to promote women in cave diving & exploration. She has set some cave diving records. You might also be able to catch her for a phone interview.



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Perhaps not exactly what you are looking for, but depending on the theme behind your presentation, it might be worth mentioning the Haenyo of Jeju, a unique part of Jeju's society. The earnings of women on Jeju weren't taxed in feudal times, so Jeju society became matriarchial with women the breadwinners. The Haenyo were women only divers who harvest seafoods on a lungful of air- as I said, it might not be what you're looking for, but it does show a significant female presence under the water for a considerable time. Haenyo are still active on Jeju (there have long been fears that they will die out, but they are still here) and are a very powerful voice in regulating anything to do with the coast and sea around Jeju. Essentially if a Haenyo house decides that no one is allowed to fish / swim / or scuba dive in their territory, the law will enforce their decision.
 
Traff glad you mentioned the [FONT=arial, sans-serif]Haenyo - there are still a few of them around. I met one on holiday in Indonesia who was on a trip paid for by her children - she decided to try scuba. Absolutely amazing, all of 71 she waltzed past me with a tank on her head muttering in korean (later found out she was unhappy with the feel of a bcd) had a potter around in the shallows and decided this modern stuff wasnt for her - she took the tank and bcd off - handed it to the dive guide and finished a hour dive freediving while everyone around her was on scuba. She was poetry to watch in the water......and a very very strong old lady.

Also a lady named Desintra Braun who you probably wont find any info on was diving here regularly finding dive spots up the north west coast in the 60s, She and her husband were diving Ningaloo four times a year and many more unmapped sites and AFAIK was the first woman to dive the montebello atomic detonation sites.
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Perhaps not exactly what you are looking for, but depending on the theme behind your presentation, it might be worth mentioning the Haenyo of Jeju, a unique part of Jeju's society. The earnings of women on Jeju weren't taxed in feudal times, so Jeju society became matriarchial with women the breadwinners. The Haenyo were women only divers who harvest seafoods on a lungful of air- as I said, it might not be what you're looking for, but it does show a significant female presence under the water for a considerable time. Haenyo are still active on Jeju (there have long been fears that they will die out, but they are still here) and are a very powerful voice in regulating anything to do with the coast and sea around Jeju. Essentially if a Haenyo house decides that no one is allowed to fish / swim / or scuba dive in their territory, the law will enforce their decision.

Thank you so much Traff! Any women divers are exactly what I am looking for! :) I had already planned on talking about the Ama divers of Japan, especially since it was/is a field where the majority of the divers were women. I had not heard of the Haenyo before, thanks!
 
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