International Women’s Day is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8th to reflect on the achievements of women to this day, while also bringing attention to the challenges still faced by women in today’s society. With International Women’s Day marking a time for reflection, we figured that now is the perfect time to shine a light on all the amazing achievements that women in diving have made, and how the female dive community looks today.
Inspirational Women In Diving
Like many sports, scuba diving has historically been male dominated. However, over the years, it’s been positive to see an increase in women taking part in the sport, as well as a rise in the number of leading female dive instructors. While the majority of divers are still male, the margins are getting smaller, and you can see the significant influences that women are having within the diving community, and more widely within the field of ocean conservation.
There are inspirational women in diving across the globe - whether that’s diving recreationally, teaching diving as an instructor, diving for a marine based job or making huge contributions towards protecting the oceans that make our sport a reality. Alongside the millions of incredible women doing wonders for the sport every day, there are a number of famous female scuba divers who have helped inspire women to get into diving and associated industries. From National Geographic explorer Sylvia Earle, who dedicated her life to saving the oceans, to Szilvia Gogh, the youngest female PADI course director in the world, there is an endless list of inspirational women in diving who have made significant contributions to the sport and to the marine world more generally (way more than we unfortunately have space to list here!).
Today’s Female Diving Community
Since 2015, PADI has been celebrating Women’s Dive Day every July to honour women’s diving achievements and to encourage the diversification of the sport. Year-round, there are so many ways that female scuba divers are encouraging women and girls to get into the sport. For example, there are now a tonne of female diving communities aimed at uniting women in diving, and opening up doors of opportunity.