The Shortage of Women in Maritime

Industry

Abstract

This article presents a result of the research addressed to look at

some of the issues that encounter or could encounter by women

seafarers during their career at sea. It presents both male and

female view on women participation in the maritime industry. Article

also suggests some recommendations to improve working and living

conditions of women on board of the ships. Articles data is mostly

based on International Labour Office and Seafarers International

Research Centre surveys.

Introduction

Since late 1990’s there has been an increase in recruiting women

seafarers, this was primarily due to officer shortage in the world

fleet and changed political direction (Belcher 2003, p.8). Women

seafarers were recruited to beat the shortage of the crew; they were

new source of labour. However, even today more and more

companies urge to recruit more women. Overall, the rate of women

in seafaring industry remains low. According to International Labour

Office (ILO) data among 1.25 million seafarers’ women represent

only 1 to 2 percents. These numbers are relevant to year 2003, but

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the numbers have not changed fundamentally since than (Voitenko

2009), even though numbers of women participating in seagoing

workforce vary considerably by region, country, company and sector

of industry (Belcher 2003, p.9). The largest numbers of women

recruited in seafaring are working in catering and housekeeping

sector of passenger ships like cruises and ferries (Voitenko 2009).

These jobs are among worst paid and least protected (ITF 2010). To

find out why there are so little women in the marine industry and

how to promote maritime jobs to female’s attention, were carried a

lot of researches involving both males and females.

Men View

Are women bad luck at sea? To explain this myth it has to be said

that in the past young and healthy men spent months and not rear

years in deep sea seeing only their fellow mates and hearing only

rude swearing. If by any chance woman appeared on their ship, her

seeing not only gladden men but she also become a source of

trouble on board, jealousy and opened hater could not only spilt

crew apart but endanger their lives (Libertalia Brotherhood 2009). It

is twenty- first century, men do not spend years in journeys from

one continent to another and women became part of the crew. So

why the number of women willing to began their career in seagoing

force is so low? Superstitions have nothing to do with that.

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As males are the dominant force of seafaring, it has to be their

opinion that matters. One of the Seafarers International Research

Centre’s (SIRC) surveys was interviewing male part of the different

maritime companies about women in seafaring. There were a

number of opinions, positive or negative depended on their

experience. Some of interviewed had no experience of female crew

member and some had experience working with women in officer

ranks. Opinions divided: some said that seafaring is to difficult for

women in terms of working and living conditions on board, some

said that women can work only on board of particular ships and not

in officer ranks; however, some commented on women

professionalism level and said that they do the job better than male

colleagues (Thomas 2003, p. 27). Negative attitude to women

seafarers was mostly coming from those interviewed who had little

or no experience working with female crew members. On the other

hand, those who have worked with women seafarers mostly were

extremely positive about high level of professional performance.

However, it did not change the perception of women as a carer of

family and perception of their beliefs about marriage and

motherhood. A lot of male crew members expressed their concerns

that sooner or later woman will choose a family over seafaring. In

response companies, officials assured that it is applicable to male

employees as well (Thomas 2003, p 32). Very small number of

interviewed are concerned about sexual tension that women on

board can cause but based on another SIRC research women

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presence creates more “normal” environment and improves moral

on board.

Women View

In general situation does not look terrible; based on interviews

solution for all women problems is time. With time women seafarers

will adjust to the environment and men on board will accept and

appreciate them, but the number of women participating in the

marine industry does not change for decades. Different researches

were carried to find out what kinds of problems women seafarers

face during their life on board and in the industry generally. ILO and

SIRC have done largest researches in this subject. This researches

revealed perception of women seafarers and how these perceptions

affect their jobs. ILO and SIRC also brought to light problems that

encountered or might encounter by women seafarers. Low number

of women in the industry means that they can be subject to

discrimination and harassment (Belcher 2003, p.15). Prejudices are

very common in the marine industry and on board of ships were

there are mostly male crews. Women are forced to prove their

abilities and face judgment and even refusal to accept instruction

from woman. To better understand what do women seafarers face

on board of the ship it is vital to see problems from their side of

view.

Discrimination

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Gender discrimination also known as sex discrimination is the

practice whereby one sex is preferred over another. It most often

affects women when unfairly discriminated against in favor of a man

(World of Translate, 2010). ILO and SIRC research found out that

discrimination problem is a number one in a list, rated at 53%

(Capellan 2008).

Women face discrimination when getting into seafaring work. Some

countries do not allow enrolling women students to nautical courses.

Once enrolled some institutions do not take women seafarers

seriously and do not make an impact introducing students to their

course (ITF 2003). Prejudiced tutors are judgemental and not

enthusiastic about female students. That kind of attitude is

particularly discouraging for young and talented seafarers and as a

result, creates an environment where male students are favoured

against female students (Harolds 2010). Male students could project

same attitude in their working environment in the future, what

creates almost a closed circle generation after generation.

Even after receiving training, women can encounter problem to find

a job in the marine industry, because of some ship owners who do

not want to employ female workers. It is also highly common that

women seafarers face lower pay for doing the equivalent work to

what their male colleagues are doing. On some ships, women can

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be denied in some facilities and equipment that are available to

male workers (Belcher 2003, p. 56). Maritime trade unions are

aware of the problem of discrimination and are forcing to produce

new policies for women employees’ equality (ITF 2010).

When shortage of crew arose companies had no choice than

consider women as new members of crewing fleet. Companies

received political encouragement and introduced new recruitment

policies (Capellan 2008). Other institution responded straight away,

the doors of trade unions, national and international regulators

became open for women seafarers. Regulatory bodies like IMO

(International Maritime Organization) produced Strategy for the

integration of women in the maritime sector. IMO took responsibility

to encourage greater participation of women throughout the

shipping and maritime industry. Development and implementation

of the strategies to integrate more women into marine industry

began in 1989 with an ad hoc programme of sensitization and

recruitment measures. One of the most prominent strategies of the

IMO programme was The Action programme for equal opportunities

and advancement of women in the maritime sector (Thomas 2003).

Another main regulatory body is ILO; its’ Merchant Shipping

(Minimum Standards) Convention of 1976 sets minimum standards

of safety, hours of work and crewing, shipboard conditions of

employment and shipboard living arrangements. Non –

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discriminative principle and rights are established in Discrimination

(Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958. This convention

prohibits any direct or indirect gender discrimination with regard to

training, employment, promotions and termination of employment.

Appendix XII contains the list of the international labour standards

relevant to women workers’ rights. ILO works to guarantee the

equality of opportunity and treatment, and to protect women

workers.

These are the main facilities that there are against discrimination in

the maritime sector. These are not a lot of course there are trade

unions that are helping to implement those strategies and rules.

What comes to the Government, after revealing the results of

ILO/SIRC research, there was very little response, and only few

countries express their interest in the research results. However, all

EU countries have equal opportunities policies for men and women.

There might not be specific policies for women seafarers, but every

institution in EU country is obliged to apply equal opportunity policy

of their country. There are laws against gender discrimination, but it

continues to happen. Women seafarers faced with discrimination no

always reveal the incident and even less often do something about

it. Trade unions have to encourage women to report any

discrimination incidents, and request an investigation if it is

necessary, it is their right and there are opportunities for that.

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Harassment

In ILO/SIRC studies harassment comes at a second place rated at

42.11% (Capllen 2008). This might be a problem for both male and

female, however, form of harassment known as “sexual

harassment” is more common to female workers. Term “sexual

harassment” can be defined as unwelcome behaviour of a sexual

nature usually accompanied with power abuse (Safe Workers 2010).

It can be presented in different ways like sexual invitations,

unwanted physical contacts and sexual comments which might be

disguised as a form of humour (ITF 2003). On board environment

can be particularly difficult for women where they could be isolated

from friends and family for a long time and left without support. As a

result, sexual harassment of any kind can be particularly difficult

and can impact women work and personal well –being (John and

Jamnicky 2005). To avoid unwanted attention and cope with

harassment on board women reported taking a number of steps.

Firstly – to void social events, or leave those early; secondly – lock

cabins during the night and thirdly – extreme measure for some

women, to “de-feminize” their appearance and appear “un-

attractive” to male colleagues. This shows that women prepared to

make drastic steps to avoid harassment (Thomas 2003).

Sexual harassment is frightfully common, but often is left

unopposed and unchanged. In cruise sector, the incidents of sexual

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harassment are less reported due to companies’ high profiles and

visible enforcement of policies on sexual harassment (Thomas

2003). Same is with the working environment of the industry ashore

harassment policies are very common, however, on board of cargo

ships they are appearing of nonexistence. Companies can play a

crucial role in preventing sexual harassment on board of ships by

producing policies and supporting women if the incident took place

(Hohn and Jamnicky 2005). Some times women are unaware of

company’s policies; that why just producing policies is not enough.

It is vital for all employees to understand a company’s policies for

their own good. However, surveys show that very little companies

have appropriate ways of introducing new employees to policies in

force (Capellan 2008). The ways it could be done are training and

induction courses, booklets, on- board safety meetings and through

an available access to documentation of policies. To make policies

more effective companies have to show positive actions; however, a

lot of companies fail to show any actions been taken and sometimes

put incident reports aside. Many women admit that they do not feel

confident when put a formal report and sometimes are afraid of

losing their jobs, as their assailants are powerful people. This is

unacceptable and should not be tolerated in any way. Addressing

complain effectively will assure employees of their rights and safety.

Hard To Work

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It is believed that women can not perform the same job as men do,

due to their physical strength and emotional instability. Work on

board of a ship could be rough even for men. So as a number three

most common problem women called a hard to work. Any sector of

the industry involves hard work is it hotel job on a cruise ship or

officer of the watch duties on a cargo ship. Hard work is even more

toughened by lack of communication with friends and family. That is

what it makes difficult for women at sea, but it is proved that

women can do any job and fulfil any position in work that is

dominated by men, and it is clear that women can be independent

and support them selves and their families at the same level as

men.

Conclusion and recommendations

After careful collection and analysis of data, it is clear that the

number of women participating in the maritime industry is

significantly smaller than men. Women are mostly working in

commercial, hospitality and catering sectors of the industry and are

quite rear in high officer ranks. The duration of working at sea varies

by sectors, those women who worked their way to the officer ranks

usually have longer career at sea but some prefer to resign from

ships and work in the marine industry ashore.

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Maritime industry is quite bias about women seafarers. Stereotypes

regarding women abilities of doing the job, emotional and physical

characteristics and attitude to the job are mostly due to the lack of

experience of working with women. Companies that do not recruit

women are very often negative about female staff on board of their

ships. Male crew members that have little or no experience of

working with female staff tend to be negative or prejudice about

women seafarers. However, those companies that are employing

women are highly positive about the experience and pleased with

quality of work, determination of female staff and more balanced on

board environment.

The main three problems that women seafarers encounter on board

of ships are discrimination, harassment and hard work. These

problems are common for any industry and any job, but it is harder

to deal with it when women are isolated on board of the ship and

some times do not have immediate access to help. Collected data

displays that companies employ women under equal opportunities

policies, but most of them do not have policies on board of their

vessels with regard to women recruitment and some of the issues

regarding sexual harassment, general health and maternity rights

are left out without specific rules and regulations. Companies with

high profile on sexual harassment policies and training have less

sexual harassment incidents and more confident staff.

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Despite difficulties and problems that women face on board of the

ships, they are generally positive about seafaring experience.

However, it is clear that some improvements in conditions of women

employment have to be done. Here are recommendations to solve

some of the problems and improve women working experience at

sea.

To eliminate employees confusion about their rights and

policies, companies could implement induction trainings for all

staff regarding non – discrimination, equal opportunities and

sexual harassment policies.

Companies should develop improved approach for seafaring

sector regarding maternity rights and benefits.

The positive experience of those companies employing

women has to be promoted to other companies in order to

increase women employment and change perception of

women seafarers.

Sexual harassment policies should be specific for on board

environment.

Women should not provoke their male colleagues by their

manners and attitude.

To lessen women difficulties on board companies where it is

possible could employee more than one woman on board of a

ship.

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Companies should actively promote seafaring as possible

career opportunity for young females.

These steps could benefit marine industry by encouraging talented

women to start their career at sea. There are enough examples of

exceptionally professional and determinate women in this industry

that proves women ability to fulfil this job. It is evident that men and

women can work together and should not compete each other but

complement each others work. (2865)

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