Women are more likely than men to be affected by climate change, studies show. UN figures indicate that 80% of people displaced by climate change are women. Roles as primary caregivers and providers of food and fuel make them more vulnerable when flooding and drought occur.

While Antarctica may no longer be the sole domain of men, barriers are still being broken in many areas. This year marked the first in which women have overwintered at both stations in the Indian Antarctic Programme. But for the women working there, it's just another year on the ice. "When you are part of a historic moment," Sudipta Sengupta observes, "you do not realise it."

Lien is the latest in a long line of women whose crafting skills have been vital to Nasa. During the Apollo programme, which sent the first humans to the moon, employees at defence contractor Raytheon were employed to "weave" the software for the spacecraft. Referred to as the "little old ladies", many of them were in fact young women, threading copper wires through tiny magnetic loops to create the individual ones and zeros of programme code. Their role in this time consuming and incredibly precise process was largely invisible to the outside world.

Indigenous peoples around the world have understood the stars, tides and local ecosystems for hundreds of years but experts say their insights have often been overlooked. Now some female scientists are striving to highlight their achievements and collect the scientific heritage of their communities before it disappears.