I'd join the Navy. Facing a shortage of sailors during World War I, the U.S. Navy decided to free men up to fight by allowing women to become low-ranking sailors and to do clerical work on shore. Through the years, they've also been pirates, lighthouse keepers, riverboat pilots and shopkeepers in harbor towns, as well as seafarers' spouses left behind to support the family. A new exhibition at The Mariners' Museum explores the many complex roles of women on and near the water and aims to give women their due in maritime history, which largely has focused on men's struggles with the sea. It runs through Jan. 6, 2002.
Women are there, but they're behind the men.
We're trying to push them to the front. Women have always been part of the sea, beginning with mythical mermaids and goddesses, Neikirk says. As early mariners set sail, they sought supernatural protection against natural forces. Venus, the daughter of Neptune, god of the sea, was believed to hold sway over the oceans as well as the heart. Mermaids often were depicted as benevolent, but sirens were malicious creatures whose songs could lure men to their deaths.