An American researcher shared her experience of resorting to a safety precaution after facing sexual harassment while stationed at an Antarctic base. She revealed that she started sleeping with a hammer concealed in her bra for protection. This revelation comes at a time when reports have surfaced about a staff member assaulting a scientist at another remote station.
Liz Monahon, who was employed as a ship mechanic at the US research station McMurdo, located approximately 1,500km from the South Pole, encountered threats and sexual harassment during her time there.
The distressing account of Monahon resurfaces as a research group operating on the continent alerted about a troubling situation involving a colleague who reportedly attacked and made death threats against another scientist.
The team of nine scientists from South Africa are currently stationed at the Sanae IV base, a research centre located on the northern tip of Antarctica some 4,000 kilometres from their homeland.
Extreme weather makes leaving and entering nearly impossible, and they are set to remain on the mission until December despite calls for them to be evacuated.
In 2022, Monahon shared her experience on the McMurdo base – on the opposite side of Antarctica – where she was isolated for several months with a small research crew.
The team included Zak Buckingham, a man from New Zealand who had a history of alcohol-related criminal offending.
Monahon told how Buckingham quickly began to intimidate and threaten her, while he and his friends made sexual jokes about her and other women at the station.
Ship mechanic Liz Monahon detailed how she hid a hammer in her bra while stationed in Antarctica after she was allegedly threatened and sexually harassed by a male colleague
It comes as a group of scientists trapped in a tiny base in Antarctica have sent an email pleading to be rescued after they say a member of their team threatened to kill another colleague. The base is located in Vesleskarvet, Queen Maud Land, Antarctica (file photo)
Monahon said that her cries for help weren’t taken seriously
Cameron Dailey-Ruddy – a bartender on the base – said: ‘It was kind of an open secret at that point that that guy had been harassing her.’ He added that Buckingham was at the bars most nights, sometimes drank in public areas and harassed women.
Manahon also told how Buckingham threatened her by saying ‘snitches get stitches’.
‘No one but myself was there to save me’, Monahon recalled. ‘And that was the thing that was so terrifying’.
Monahon felt unsupported by her superiors – who offered her a ‘top-secret’ room and one day off work.
In a statement to the HR department about the colleague in question, she said: ‘[He] is a danger to me. He has threatened my life.
‘He is capable of hurting me and he wants to hurt me.
‘I have been living in fear for the last two days.’
She had no option but to arm herself with a hammer to protect herself because she was crippled with fear that she was going to be sexually assaulted or killed.
‘If he came anywhere near me, I was going to start swinging at him,’ she said.
‘I decided that I was going to survive.’
Once Monahon returned to the US, she condemned management for failing to protect her and her and her fellow female colleagues, saying she avoided physical harm thanks to her own actions to protect herself.
Following Monahon’s ordeal, the National Science Foundation published a report in 2022 which revealed 59% of women said they’d experienced harassment or assault while stationed in Antarctica, and 72% of women said such behaviorr was a problem on the bases.
Monahon takes a selfie on the McMurdo ice shelf in Antarctica in November 2021
Liz Monahon was working the US research station McMurdo some 1,500km from the South Pole in 2022 at the time of the ordeal
In one case, a woman who reported a colleague had groped her was made to work alongside him again.
A separate incident on ice involved a food worker on the base who told her bosses she’d been sexually assaulted at work – she was fired two months later.
One woman said that bosses at the base downgraded her allegations from rape to harassment.
The long stretches of isolation and working in close quarters means that each researcher must undergo a series of background checks, physical and medical assessments and a psychometric evaluation before they are cleared for the expedition.
Researchers at the Sanae base only have each other for company in the absence of animals, other humans and society as they know it. Pictured is a different team of scientific researchers who were stationed at the base in 2014
Antarctica is known for its vast icy terrain and isolated location, characteristics that mystify and intrigue most people – but also characteristics that have led to a rampant culture of sexual abuse
But last week, a researcher on South Africa’s Sanae IV base sent a worrying email claiming one team member had attacked them and was issuing death threats. The man in question is also accused of sexually harassing another researcher.
They reportedly pleaded to be rescued, but an emergency evacuation operation would take at least two weeks to reach them – if weather conditions remain stable.
The author of the email, which was shared with South Africa’s Sunday Times, wrote: ‘Regrettably, his behaviour has escalated to a point that is deeply disturbing.
‘Specifically, he physically assaulted [X], which is a grave violation of personal safety and workplace norm. Furthermore, he threatened to kill [X], creating an environment of fear and intimidation.
‘I remain deeply concerned about my own safety, constantly wondering if I might become the next victim.’
Ahead of their expedition to the base, members of the group shared pictures together and described their excitement at partaking.
One of the team members posted on social media about their ‘adventures’ at the remote base in recent days, and previously described the ‘thrill’ at spending months the base with the small team.
A South African government official confirmed that one of the team member’s threatening behaviour was triggered by ‘a dispute over a task the team leader wanted the team to do – a weather-dependent task that required a schedule change’.
The author of the email seen by South Africa’s Sunday Times expressed immense concern over their colleague’s ‘increasingly egregious behaviour’ and called for immediate action to ensure their own safety and that of the team as a whole.
‘I am experiencing significant difficulty in feeling secure in his presence,’ the author wrote.
Neither the author nor the accused have been named.
