15th July 2017 marks the 3rd annual PADI Women’s Dive Day. PADI encourage dive centers around the globe to strengthen and support the female diving community through a day of fun, adventure and camaraderie.
At SUB AQUA DiveCenter we encourage our female (and male!) divers to have fun diving adventures every day but now seems like a good time to learn more about the important female figures in scuba diving history.
Who are the most important women in scuba diving history?
The 'most important women' in scuba diving history is a difficult choice to make but here are a few that have gone a long way to help shape scuba diving as it is today.
DR SYLVIA EARLE
Dr Sylvia Earle is a diving icon! Some consider her only 2nd in line to Jacques Cousteau in terms of fame in scuba; but then Jacques Cousteau was not a woman and so…
Dr Sylvia Earle was the first female Chief Scientist for NOAA and pioneered in the development of deep sea submersibles, among many other related achievements. She is affectionately known as ‘Her Deepness’ and is a seasoned aquanaut!
Her most recent project is Mission Blue, which is both a documentary and a movement. Her mission: ‘To ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas’. This is no small task when you consider Dr Sylvia is 81 years old and still diving!
In an interview with ScubaPro she is quoted as saying, “People ask me all the time: ‘Do you still dive?’ And I say, ‘I still breathe so of course I still dive’”.
The Cousteau family were never going to escape any list of important people in scuba diving history, not even a list of women! Every diver knows Jacque Cousteau but ever heard the phrase, ‘behind every man, there is a great woman’? Here you go…
Simone Cousteau helped finance the famous exploration vessel Calypso and also had a big part to play in the development of the aqualung. She introduced her husband Jacques to Emile Gagnan. Jacques and Emile then went on to create the demand-valve that became a central feature of their aqualung system! Her passion and fascination for the underwater environment should also be noted.
Another scuba woman - too often unnoticed!
LOTTE BAIERL HASS
Lotte Baierl Hass is often known as ‘the first lady of diving’. Born in 1928 in Vienna, she made a career as an underwater explorer and photographer! She even turned down offers from Hollywood to pursue her own dreams and stay in the water.
Together with her husband, Lotte became famous in the UK for their TV series Diving to Adventure. Sadly, Lotte passed away in 2013, but her legend as a pioneering scuba woman will live on always.
DOTTIE FRAZIER
Dottie Frazier managed more ‘firsts’ in scuba than any female diver before her (or after her)! The first female scuba instructor, the first female dive shop owner, the first female freediving and spearfishing athlete (and champion); she also produced wetsuits and dry suits!
There is no way we could miss out Dottie Frazier as one of the most important women in scuba diving! Still alive and well in her mid-90s, you can listen to a 2016 interview with Dottie Frazier from the Scuba Guru podcast.
The above list is our version of the most important women in scuba diving. There are many, many more important women in scuba diving that we could not mention here but that are nonetheless respected for their contributions to what was traditionally seen as more of a man's sport.
