Le Cercle Polaire

Interview with Laurent Mayet

Laurence de la Ferrière, Tiina Itkonen and Kate Leeming: in February 2023, these three eminent female explorers joined the passengers of L’Austral on an expedition to Antarctica. All are signatories of Women of the Poles, an initiative by the association Le Cercle Polaire, designed to pay tribute to women polar adventurers from around the globe. Laurent Mayet, the founder and president of Le Cercle Polaire, which is behind the campaign, was also on board. He tells us more about this initiative, which is as symbolic as it is necessary in the global fight for gender equality.

How does your partnership with PONANT work?

Since 2009, Le Cercle Polaire delegations have regularly set sail on PONANT ships bound for the Arctic and Antarctica to raise awareness among passengers through lectures, ensuring they return from these voyages as true ambassadors for the Arctic and Antarctic environment. And for us as observers, it’s an opportunity to gather first-hand information on issues that often receive little media coverage. 

In 2023, as part of our Women of the Poles campaign, we invited PONANT to welcome some exceptional female polar explorers on board: Laurence de la Ferrière, the first French woman to reach the South Pole and the only woman in the world to have made a complete solo crossing of the Antarctic; Tiina Itkonen, a photographer with a passion for Greenland and the Inuit communities; Kate Leeming, an extreme cyclist who is training for the first crossing of the Antarctic via the South Pole by bike; and Reena Dharmshaktu, the first Indian woman to reach the geographic South Pole.. 

What prompted Women of the Poles campaign? 

We launched this campaign at the beginning of 2023 as part of the much broader international framework of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which give us hope that our world will be moving towards a better balance by 2030. And gender equality has been identified as one of the key priorities in this quest for balance. It is SDG 5. And while the issue of gender equality may be more or less serious depending on the country, the fact remains that it is of universal value. 

What are the aims of this campaign?

Highlighting the polar experiences and careers of around 50 female adventurers, photographers, explorers and scientists, all of whom have demonstrated their physical and mental abilities to withstand these hostile extreme regions. And because the international dimension of the polar cause is fundamental, we have tried to bring together as broad a panel as possible by inviting “polar” women from a wide range of backgrounds: Europe and the United States, but also Africa, South America and Asia. It’s easy to understand that if reaching the North Pole means something to a European woman, it might mean even more to an Algerian or Iranian woman.

Why is it so symbolic to talk about women of the poles?

First, an observation: women do not or scarcely feature in the current presentation of polar exploration. Why do we continue to interview two or three prominent French male figures on every television programme and in every media article when women such as Laurence de la Ferrière have equally significant achievements under their belts? Second, it’s precisely because only the male perspective is presented that women are now embracing the subject to show that they are “there”, just as capable, just as experienced.

What do you see as the long-term future of Women of the Poles?

New Women of the Poles themed cruises are already planned with PONANT for 2024 and 2025, and the United Nations’ sustainable development agenda runs until 2030.  Le Cercle Polaire is also carrying out a major and ambitious educational initiative in partnership with the French education system through a series of events involving 115 classes, or almost 3,500 French pupils from mainland and overseas France, who are invited to reflect on around 30 polar subjects with their teachers and various speakers who specialise in biology, navigation, and more. It’s a fantastic campaign.

• 1999: Laurent Mayet travels to the Antarctic aboard L’Astrolabe, the polar vessel in charge of the rotations to the Dumont d’Urville base.

• 2006: the NGO Le Cercle Polaire is founded, bringing together political leaders, scientists, experts and people with an interest in the Polar Regions to work towards the same goal: “Better understanding and protection of the Polar Regions“.

• 2007: draft treaty on the Arctic used by French parliamentarians as part of the Grenelle de l’environnement law in November 2008. This work directly inspired the European Parliament resolution on Arctic governance voted on 9 October 2008.

Photo credits: ©DR

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