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Chapter 8 — 3
Being physically smaller, the woman has a lower requirement for oxygen at a given level of
physical activity and will produce less carbon dioxide. With smaller lungs, women also take
smaller breaths. Thus, women can often manage with less air than a male diving companion
and so can use a smaller, lighter scuba cylinder. This can offset the apparent disadvantage of
diminished body size and strength.
Because of differences in body shape, women have different equipment design requirements.
There can be difficulty in obtaining appropriate sized or shaped wet suits, fins, boots, and
gloves, in less developed countries.
Particular problems arise with male sized equipment, especially face masks which may not fit
well, and large scuba cylinders which are unnecessarily bulky or heavy. Backpacks can be too
long and so cover the weight belt, making the release of the belt in an emergency difficult.
Over sized buoyancy compensators designed for males may give excessive buoyancy and drag
with females.
Diving Activity
It is anecdotally believed that males tend to dive deeper, longer, more frequently and engage in
more rapid ascents. Whether this is true, is unknown, but they certainly do engage in more risk-
taking activities than females in all general epidemiological surveys, and so perhaps it is
correct. They also suffer many more accidents and traumatic deaths than females – at all ages.
In one study, females dived mostly between 19-40m (61-68% of the activity) and much less
between 41-60m (16-26%) or greater than 60m (1-2%). Young females dived at a more varied
depth but also deeper than older females.
Thermal Variations
Women are better insulated than their male counterparts. They have a fat layer beneath the skin
some 25% greater then men. They also have a better ability to constrict the blood flow to their
limbs, reducing heat loss. These factors allow women to conserve their heat more effectively in
a cold water environment while producing natural buoyancy, which improves their swimming
and floating ability.
Unfortunately women tend to expose themselves less to demanding environmental
temperatures, and so may not become as well adapted to cold exposure, and initially react more
to this situation.
Menstruation
Some women perceive their ability to dive safely during the menstrual cycle may be impaired,
and that the activity of scuba diving may alter the menstrual cycle. Statistically there is some
justification for believing that diving related incidents are more frequent around the time of
menstruation.
During menstruation, the average woman is likely to lose 50–150cc blood and cellular debris.
There are some physical and physiological consequences of menstruation which will be
discussed, but usually there is no reason why women should not dive during menstruation. For