With his ideas about the universe, astronomer Carl Sagan stretched the bounds of human imagination. However, he had to fight old-fashioned sexism when he askedthe Explorers Club in 1981 to admit women.the members took his advice. This letter is from the w

Dear Fellow Member of The Explorers Club:

Thank you for the opportunity to write to you about the admission of women to The Explorers Club. The human zest for exploration and discovery is the hallmark of our species and one of the secrets to our success.

It is a tradition that goes back much further than the 76 proud years in which The Explorers Club has been in existence. When our organisation was formed in 1905, men were preventing women from voting and from pursuing many occupations for which they are clearly suited.

In the popular mind, exploration was not what women did. Even so, women had played a significant but unheralded role in the history of exploration – in Africa in the 19th century, for example. Similarly, Lewis and Clark were covered with glory, but Sacajewea, who guided them every inch of the way, was strangely forgotten. All institutions reflect the prejudices and conventions of their times and, when it was founded, The Explorers Club necessarily reflected the attitudes of 1905.

Traditions are important. They provide continuity with our past. But it is up to us to decide which traditions are essential to The Explorers Club and which are accidents of the epoch in which it was institutionalised.

Times have changed since 1905. It is very clear that a foolish rigidity can destroy otherwise worthwhile institutions; they are then replaced by other organisations more in tune with the times. IBM’S recent withdrawal of corporate support for The Explorers Club because of our “exclusionary policy towards women” should be pondered carefully by every member. Many other former supporters may follow suit.

Today women are making extraordinary contributions in areas of fundamental interest to our organisation. There are several women astronauts.

The earliest footprints – 3.6 million years old – made by a member of the human family have been found in a volcanic ash flow in Tanzania by Mary Leakey. Trailblazing studies of the behaviour of primates in the wild have been performed by dozens of young women, each spending years with a different primate species.