International Women’s Day with Queens Bay

Ny-Ålesund Research Station, featuring Queens Bay participates, supports, and celebrates International Women’s Day!

We gathered to celebrate all the women in Ny-Ålesund, the change from Kings Bay to Queens Bay, the privileges we have, and gathered to speak up for what we still have to fight for.

We celebrate our privileges
At Ny-Ålesund Research Station, we have jobs, daily meals, and a strong sense of community. Most of us come from countries with democracies, voting rights, access to education, and freedom of speech – rights that should never be taken for granted. We stand up for all women that do not have the same privileges as we do.

We celebrate that living and working in the polar regions is no longer only seen as a “tough man’s job.” All women here work in an unconventional place, dedicating a part of their lives directly or indirectly to climate research. Women in Ny-Ålesund hold leadership roles, technical roles, and essential scientific roles. Yet societal expectations still follow us here:
Are you strong enough to work in the Arctic? Don’t you want to have kids? Shouldn’t you go home and do what is expected of you?

Yet here we are.

Thank you to all women in Ny-Ålesund for being here and being you. Thank you to Kings Bay for creating Queens Bay today.