Twelve Rooms of the Nile

“To speak the names of the dead is to make them live again.” –The Book of the Dead

There is no more apt way to introduce celebrated poet and short-story author Enid Shomer’s debut novel, The Twelve Rooms of the Nile. While Gustave Flaubert and Florence Nightingale really did both travel through Egypt before they became the luminaries known to history, only in Shomer’s richly envisioned world did their journeys come to a crossroads, and did their lives become intertwined and their souls deeply connected. Shomer supplements rigorous research with vivid imagination, so that by the end of this novel, it will be difficult to fathom how Flaubert and Nightingale became the people we remember them as today without this story having taken place.

Enid Shomer won the Iowa Fiction Prize for her first collection of stories and the Florida Gold Medal for her second. She is also the author of four books of poetry. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, and many other publications. She lives in Tampa, Florida.

Myth: Women & Children First

From the Boston Herald:

According to a recent study by two Swedish economists, that brand of gallantry is not only dead, it was buried at sea long ago.

Keen to test humanity’s capacity for selflessness in times of scarcity and duress, the students of the "dismal science" reviewed survival data for some of history’s worst shipwrecks.

What they found was that women and children were only half as likely as crew members and captains to survive maritime disasters.

Instead of "women and children first" and "the captain must go down with the ship," the rallying cry seemed to be "every man for himself," the authors wrote.

From KARN News Radio:

Economists at Uppsala University have turned on its head the idea that women and children are attended to first by investigating 18 shipwrecks that occurred between 1852 to 2011.  Two of the most famous examples of sinking ships, Titanic and Lusitania, were also taken into account.

Other than the Titanic, where three times more women than men survived the disaster, the study finds that the captain, his crew and male passengers were generally saved more often than women and children.

In fact, crew members were 18.7 percent more likely to get out alive than everyone else on board.

And from Newser:

If you ever find yourself on board a sinking ship, you'd better hope you're an adult male. Researchers from Sweden looked at 18 of the most disastrous shipwrecks and found that women and children are far less likely to survive compared to their male counterparts, the Los Angeles Times  reports. What's worse, captains and crew members had higher survival rates than all passengers, shattering the notion that captains must go down with their ship. In fact, there is no maritime law that requires captains to remain aboard their sinking vessel.

Crew members fared the best, with a survival rate of 61%, followed by captains at 44%. Men were the next most likely to survive (37%), then women (27%) and lastly children (15%). Researchers say men and crew members have greater knowledge of the ship, making it easier for them to get to life boats—and they aren't as keen to sacrifice themselves as some may believe. But don't let this distort your sense of history. There were some exceptions to the rule, including the famed Titanic voyage, in which women's survival rate was three times higher than other disasters. 

Off the Beaten Track - Three Centuries of Women Travellers

Picked up this little gem at my local library and cannot recommend it enough.

Off the beaten track: three centuries of women travellers by Dea Birkett:

The lives of those who leave their homes to experience far-off lands have always been a source of fascination. Whether travelling for work, love, politics, to escape or simply to broaden horizons, it is the intrepid female traveller who is the most intriguing.

Some of the marvellous ladies who feature in this tome are:
Aphra Behn; Lady Hester Stanhope; Lucie, Lady Duff Gordon; Isabella Bird; Dame Rebecca West (noted for her affair with HG Wells); Lady Florence Dixie; Constance Gordon Cumming; Violet Cressy-Marcks; Dame Freya Stark; Rosita Forbes; Dorothy Mills, Lady Walpole; Lady Mary Wortley Montague; Elizabeth, Lady Craven; Caroline Amelia of Brunswick (Queen Caroline); Jane Digby; Penelope Chetwode, Lady Betjeman; Margaret Stevenson (mother of Robert Louis Stevenson); Charlotte, Lady Canning; Gertrude Bell; Emily Eden; Isaleb, Lady Burton; Flora Shaw, Lady Lugard (named Nigeria); Annie Taylor (first woman to visit Tibet); Jane, Lady Franklin (first woman to climb Mt Wellington, NZ); Amelia Edwards; Mary Kingsley (sister of author Charles Kingsley); Maria Graham; Beryl de Zoete; Marie Stopes; Mary Douglas; Dame Kathleen Kenyon; Fanny Kemble;Vita Sackville-West; Ethel Mannin; Clare Sheridan; Fanny Trollope (mother of novelist Anthony); Elizabeth Rigby, Lady Eastlake; Anna Bromwell Jameson; Dame Rose Macaulay; Dame Agatha Christie (yes - the author); Harriet Martineau; Barbara Bodichon; Julia Margaret Cameron; Marianne North; Martha Ricks; Amy Johnson; and finallyAnnie, Lady Brassey.

Okay - I couldn't name but a few! What a collection of amazing women!

No to Women-Only Travel Co

From News Online:

A SINGLE-sex travel company for women who want to avoid boozy, bed-hopping mixed tour groups has been grounded.

A judge ruled yesterday that former tour guide Erin Maitland cannot advertise women-only holidays because it could breach the human rights of men.

The judge said Ms Maitland believed Travel Sisters would provide security for women, re-assure male partners who could not travel and be used by women who did not want to mix with men for cultural or religious reasons or because they were victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.

Her application was opposed by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, which said it would conflict with Victoria's Charter of Human Rights.

Travel Sisters

A little bit of a todo today about a new travel service in Australia that caters for women only - Travel Sisters.

Apparently this travel service which does cater predominantly for women and is tailored for women, has created a bit of a fuss with some who claim this service discriminates on the basis of gender.

Now, we have travel services that cater for families with children; we have services that cater for same sex couples; and same sex couple with families, why can we not have a service catering for women who wish to travel with other women??

Now men are quite welcome to join in the fun of manicures and pedicures; fashion and fashion parades; shopping; and gossip - so they are not excluded.

What do readers think. Should this service be banned on the basis of gender discrimination??

Women on Their Way

From CNN Money:

Women on Their Way is an online resource for business and leisure travelers to find everything they need to plan and book their next trip. The website includes expert advice on destinations, hotels, timeshare resorts and vacation rentals, plus special deals and packages.

Women on Their Way is the hospitality industry's longest-running branded program entirely dedicated to female travelers. Since the program's launch in 1995, Wyndham has supported women travelers as they've emerged from a niche market to a formidable force, listening and responding to women's feedback, which has resulted in a better hotel experience for all travelers, including the addition of various amenities to hotel rooms such as coffee makers, full-length mirrors and healthier room service menus.

While once a single hotel chain program, Wyndham Worldwide expanded the program across all brands and businesses offering over 70,000 hotels, vacation rentals and resorts in 100 countries.

Ten Inspirational Women Travellers

Article by Julia Ross at WorldHum:

No, we likely wouldn’t publish a list of 10 inspirational male travelers. But men and women experience travel differently and face different obstacles in making travel a part of their lives, so let’s recognize a few women who have blazed the trail. Here, in no particular order, are 10 women—past and present—who have inspired others through their travels, whether by making the world a richer place, contributing to cross-cultural understanding, or simply pursuing their dreams.