Female Adventurers of Yesterday and Today

Recently I finished 2 pieces of travel writing, of a sort. The first was a book by Glynis Ridley called The Discovery of Jeanne Baret, about a French woman who became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe in the 1760s.

Jeanne Baret was a peasant woman from the Loire Valley, educated in nothing but the rural countryside that surrounded her. By the time she met Philibert Commerson, an eminent botanist living a very different life from Baret’s as a gentleman squire on a nearby estate, Baret was a locally employed herb woman, an expert herself in plants and flowers. Baret’s knowledge of plants was such that she and Commerson became partners, romantically and professionally, and Baret eventually moved with Commerson to Paris, where she lived and worked with him.

This was a time when such a living situation was still regarded as unconventional and fairly scandalous, even in Paris. It may have been the Age of Enlightenment, an era of tremendous advances in science and philosophy, but the world had a long way to go yet in regards to views on personal freedoms--and certainly women’s personal freedoms.

But both Baret and Commerson were stubborn about following convention. So much so that when Commerson was chosen to serve as botanist aboard a round-the-world expedition led by the French admiral Louis-Antoine de Bougainville in 1766--the first French circumnavigation of the world--Baret accompanied Commerson as his valet. Since women were not allowed on ships in this time (apart from passenger sailings), Baret’s presence and acceptance onboard had to involve a great deal of deception. While Commerson spent the voyage pretending he had no prior relationship with the soft-featured “young man” who presented himself to Commerson’s service before sailing (much less that this young man was really a woman), Baret had to disguise herself as a man and keep up her disguise 24/7 for nearly the entirety of the voyage--a span of 3 years.

Image of Baret in her man's disguise.

I say “nearly” because Ridley’s book documents that from the beginning there were rumors and jokes among the crew about Baret’s true gender. At one point she was actually confronted by the captain about her odd behavior (why didn’t she take her shirt off while she worked like the other men, why did she spend so much time hiding away in Commerson’s cabin), and to protect herself from physical examination Baret told the captain that she was a eunuch. This quelled the rumors for awhile, until Baret’s true gender was discovered in the South Seas. For centuries the official story, promoted by Admiral Bougainville’s published journal, has been that Baret was nearly attacked by natives on Tahiti who immediately saw through her disguise before she was rescued by her shipmates.

Ridley’s book, however, examines other expedition members’ journals and records and pieces together a strong hypothesis that Baret was actually literally and violently exposed and assaulted by her fellow crew on the island of New Ireland (now part of Papua New Guinea). Baret became pregnant as a result of the attack, dropped some of the more strict aspects of her disguise (there was hardly any point now), and sailed on with the expedition another 7 months to Mauritius, where she and Commerson stayed and left the expedition. (Meanwhile, Commerson’s reaction to Baret’s attack was to pretend shock to learn she was a woman--rather than expressing outrage at what happened to her or fessing up to his part in her disguise.) Commerson would die on Mauritius in 1773, and Baret would return to France the following year, making her the first known woman to sail around the world.

Along with piecing together the story of what really happened to Baret, of how she was really “discovered” on the expedition, Ridley’s book also tries to reclaim Baret’s contributions to science--which have for long been credited solely to Commerson--and re-establish Baret as a botanist in her own right.

I picked up this book for its travel elements rather than its scientific ones, and I admit I found some of the reading a bit dry, not being a big botany nut. But the story of Baret has stayed with me since I finished it, particularly what she went through and how she was brutally humiliated and punished--and all because of her pursuit of adventure, romantic devotion, and professional accomplishment.

I especially thought of Baret, and other female explorers, adventurers, and travelers of the past, after reading a recent article by Marybeth Bond, of Gusty Traveler fame. If Baret’s story is unsettling to readers today (and it should be), Bond’s article is the antidote. Bond writes that today women travelers are calling the shots and driving the tourism industry. Here are some of Bond’s heartening stats:

Of those who currently take nature, adventure or cultural trips, 75% are women.

Ten years ago, there were no such statistics. Now we know that the average adventure traveler is not a 28-year old male, but a 47-year-old female. And she wears a size 12 dress.

Last year women travelers spent over $95 billion in Outdoor Equipment, from hiking boots to specialized bike seats designed for the female anatomy.

Imagine that. Outdoor, travel, and adventure equipment made especially for women’s bodies. What a far cry from the days when a brave French woman named Jeanne Baret had to go to extremes to disguise her femaleness just to take part in some adventure!
 

Now, my personal experience as a female traveler is that while women have definitely come a long way in the world, we still have some ways to go. Many women travelers, especially solo women, probably still find themselves on the receiving end of more warnings of all the horrible things that might happen to them than they do encouragement and support when they share their exotic travel dreams with others. (At least, that’s what I still get.) And there are still many places in the world where a female traveler, again especially a solo one, is regarded with suspicion--a point of view I cannot and never will understand.

  

But the purchasing strength of women in the tourism industry, the big increase in women-only tour companies, and the sheer number of women you meet out there traveling the world’s roads--women of all ages, races, nationalities, religions, and backgrounds--show how fast things are changing. For all her courage, may the days of Baret’s experience never return. May her grim travails become second-place to her great travels. May women increasingly seek and enjoy happy and safe adventure all around this world.