Diving Trailblazers: The Women Divers Hall of Fame

Scuba diving, like many sports, was historically considered to be a man's world.  Thankfully, that has been slowly changing over the decades.  We've come a long way from some of the attitudes that used to prevail, like the myth that women aren't strong enough for the rigors of scuba diving.  Sometimes the progress can be painfully slow; even when scuba manufacturers realized that enough women were diving that they should start marketing women's scuba gear, for many years the manufacturers' idea of scuba gear for women was simply to take their size small men's gear and manufacture it with pink material.  But as the ranks of female scuba divers grew, and as women divers continued to accomplish great things underwater, the scuba diving industry has made many improvements.

Thankfully, women divers now have more gear that's designed for our physiology available to us than ever before, and today we encounter much less bias against us among the diving community than in the past.  Much of the progress that has been made in making the scuba diving industry as a whole realize that women can, and will, dive anywhere that men dive, is due to the diving prowess exhibited by women such as those honored in the Women Divers Hall of Fame.


Many of the Women Divers HOF inductees made significant contributions to the science, sport, and technology of scuba diving long before any of the female-friendly scuba gear was available and before many men in the industry even considered that women could dive as well as or better than men.  Others inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame have used their opportunities in the scuba world to further advance our knowledge and understanding of the science of diving and of the nature of the underwater world as a whole.  Many have actively worked to make scuba diving more accessible to women, and to promote scuba diving as a woman-friendly sport.  The Women Divers Hall of Fame honorees include ocean scientists, underwater photographers, military divers, experts in dive medicine, commercial divers, instructors, researchers, marine archaeologists, and women involved with every other aspect of diving as well.

The Women Divers Hall of Fame recently announced its 2011 class of inductees.  They are:

Sally E. Bauer, MD: physician, historian, speaker, writer, marine researcher, President and co-founder of the History of Diving Museum
Gina Bier: police detective, police diver, NAUI instructor trainer
Christine Rooney Bird, MD: physician, television series producer, Founder, Ocean Research Group, Inc.
Céline Cousteau: filmmaker, international adventurer, enviro advocate, speaker, Founder of CauseCentric Productions and Executive Director of Ocean Inspiration
Anna DeLoach: computer expert, researcher, publisher, videographer, magazine editor
Karen Straus: diving pioneer, instructor, journalist, photographer/videographer
Maureen Langevin: diving instructor, tech diver, boat captain, videographer, expedition leader
Michele Westmorland: visual artist, nature photographer/instructor, expedition leader
Deborah Whitcraft: maritime historian, writer and speaker; President and Curator of the New Jersey Maritime Museum
Cristina Zenato: ocean conservationist, diving instructor, cave explorer

Congratulations to the 2011 class of WDHOF inductees!  And THANK YOU to ALL of the scuba divers honored in the Women Divers Hall of Fame, for making diving better, safer and more enjoyable for all of us!

Know any female divers who you think deserve to be recognized in the next class of WDHOF honorees?  Nominate them here.