Women in Oceanography
Oceanography is a vigorous profession often involving travel on research vessels and outdoor work with heavy equipment, but it is no longer a profession limited to the male of the species.
The number of women applying and being accepted in oceanography has increased greatly in the last few years. In the nearly 20 years since the first oceanography candidates were graduated in 1951, there have been only three master's degrees and one PhD awarded to women.
At present, however, 15 of the 110 students in the URI Graduate School of Oceanography are women. For six of these it's already a team operation. Their husbands are candidates for the doctoral degree in oceanography.
Of the 15 women, four are working for the master's degree and the others are all in the PhD program. All but two are specializing in biological oceanography. One of the young women who is working for her doctoral degree is a mother of five. Her husband works at the Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory and she commutes to class from Connecticut.
---Mary Matzinger, Editor Maritimes, February 1970