Within days of each other, two women made headlines for attempting risky ocean endurance feats. Kelsey Pfendler completed a solo row from California to Hawaii, becoming the fastest person to make the crossing, and Catherine Breed launched an attempt to become the first person to swim the entire California coastline. Together, their accomplishments challenge one of the most persistent stereotypes about women.

Pfendler Completes Solo Row In Record Time

On July 3, Kelsey Pfendler became the fastest person to row solo from California to Hawaii, completing the 2,400-mile crossing in 43 days. That’s nine days faster than the previous men’s record and 43 days faster than the previous women’s record. Launching from Monterey, California, in a 21-foot rowboat, Pfender documented the mental and physical challenges of her trip on social media.

In one video, Pfendler said she was sleeping only about 2.5 hours per night as she navigated big waves, high winds and storms. Although she capsized during the trip, she said one of her biggest challenges wasn’t the conditions, but being her own worst enemy. She described beating herself up when she overslept, adding that she ultimately learned, “The way you respond to problems is so much more important than the problem itself.”

In one of the last videos, posted as she was approaching her destination in Oahu, she said, “If any part of this made at least one person feel a little bit more powerful in their own skin, I couldn’t ask for anything else, and I’m happy.”

Then she offered her advice. “Think about trying to find your own big, hard, scary thing. You might not think that you are strong enough to finish it right now, but you’re definitely strong enough to start it, and you’ll find everything else along the way. I’m going to go finish my big, hard scary thing.”

The day after completing her journey, Pfendler told Good Morning America that she hoped her journey inspires women to take some chances.

Breed Starts California Coast Swim

Two days before Pfendler completed her historic row, Catherine Breed set out to be the first person to swim the entire California coastline. She set off from the Oregon-California border on July 1, and plans to swim about five to eight hours a day until she reaches the California-Mexico border sometime this fall. To attain this audacious goal, she will have to swim more than 800 miles in the open Pacific, vulnerable to great white sharks, elephant seals, venomous jellyfish, storms, currents and hypothermia.

Now on day seven, Breed is off the California coast near the town of Orick. She is accompanied by a small support crew in a sailboat.

“I feel nervous about it, of course. If I didn’t feel nervous, something is wrong with me,” she reported in a video released prior to her launch. One of her goals, according to her website: “I want to inspire and motivate others to see what they are capable of. It is a privilege to see how tough you can be.”

Prior to this attempt, Breed set several records including being the first person to swim from the Golden Gate Bridge to Half Moon Bay and breaking the record for the fastest swim between the Farallon Islands and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Different Messages Women Receive About Risk

One of the most striking things about these feats is that, even today, their gender feels relevant to their stories. Their accomplishments challenge the stereotype that women are not risk-takers. Pfendler and Breed illustrate that women are clearly capable of pursuing ambitious goals with uncertain outcomes. However, women are not always encouraged to take risks.

Girls start receiving different messages about risk than boys do at a young age. In one classic study, parents encouraged boys more than girls to complete a challenging playground task without assistance, while more often stepping in to help girls, even though both sexes were equally capable of completing the task on their own. The researchers concluded that "parents communicate to young children in ways that may promote greater risk taking by boys than girls."

In the workplace, who takes risks is particularly important because risk-taking is often considered a leadership trait. If women are perceived as risk-averse, some argue, this would explain why fewer women reach leadership positions.

However, much like the young children, men and women at work receive different feedback for risk-taking. In five studies involving more than 2,200 participants, researchers found no overall gender difference in workplace risk-taking. Instead, they found that women reported receiving more negative feedback than men for taking risks at work. That made women less likely to take similar risks again in the future.

In one experiment, participants imagined accepting an unfamiliar assignment despite being unsure they could complete it, what Pfendler might call a “big, hard, scary thing.” When women and men received the same workplace consequences for taking on that risk (positive or negative), they were equally willing to take on a similar challenge in the future.

In the real world, however, the researchers found that women and men don’t receive the same feedback for risk-taking. Women were more likely to report experiencing negative feedback for taking on these workplace risks, while men reported more positive feedback. As a result, women were less likely to take those risks in the future.

Advice From Pfendler And Breed

Despite receiving the negative feedback, women still need to take on risks if they want to attain leadership roles. Pfendler and Breed’s stories are inspiring because they make it clear that taking risks doesn't mean there is no fear. It means moving forward despite the fear.

Pfendler urged others to find their own "big, hard, scary thing," while Breed hopes her journey inspires people to discover "how tough you can be." Their advice applies just as well in the workplace as it does on the Pacific Ocean.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com