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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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