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 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

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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.

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

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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 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

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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

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

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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 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

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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 – 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

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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.

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-

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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 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.

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 Hard To Work

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.

Despite difficulties and problems that women face on board of the ships,

they are generally positive about seafaring experience. However, it is clear

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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.

• 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

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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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