Women and Pressure

Book excerpt: Women and Pressure is a remarkable look at women's progress in the fields of diving and altitude. With content ranging from the history of women divers, combat pilots, and astronauts to the unique physiological characteristics of females working and playing in altered barometric pressure environments, this book is long overdue. Featuring contributions from 35 authors, many of whom are pioneers in their field, it represents a wide range of disciplines and offers a comprehensive dialogue about the effects of pressure on women. This book is a must-read for women divers, dive instructors, men who dive with women, and anyone involved in these fields.As an admirable collection of the current research and attitudes regarding the most frequent concerns of divers, instructors, and aviators, topics are explored on a level of seriousness and urgency. The essays included in this text contain crucial discussions of such relevant factors as: pregnancy, the menstrual cycle and decompression illness, decompression illness susceptibility compared with men, fitness to dive, thermal tolerance, equipment, legal issues, and women in the workplace. The pool of information in this book displays the serious nature of a text addressing the past, present, and future of issues of consequence in relation to the well-being of the women involved. From the Foreword: It is obviously important to have a good understanding of how women's physical and psychological responses might differ from those experienced by men. I believe that this book is a scholarly attempt to answer these questions, and I hope that it will make a valuable contribution to the health and welfare of women engaged in these highly specialized occupations. -HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh "Over the years, different data, theories, and hypotheses have been proffered, but there has never been an authoritative compendium on these issues. . .This is perhaps the only work in existence that, in one place, provides physicians, physiologists, and other interested dive and aerospace professionals with what's broadly known about the subject of women in diving and aerospace." -Karl Shreeves, The Undersea Journal, 2010 Proceeds from this book will go to the Diving Diseases Research Center to support further diving research.