7 Main Reasons There Are Fewer Women Seafarers In The Maritime Industry

Shipping is one of those very few industries which has the lowest number of women workforce. Blame it on the traditional mind set of the “male dominated” industry or the lack of awareness, the paltry number of female seafarers clearly states that very little has been done to encourage women for taking seafaring careers.

In this article, a female seafarer who is sailing on commercial vessels and is part of the maritime system, explains some of the main reasons as to why many female candidates are refraining from entering the industry or are looking for other career options.

1. Lack of awareness and information: It is not untrue that unlike other career options, careers in the maritime industry are not very well known to many young women. Students generally opt for main stream careers such as IT, computer science, electronics or medicine. This is because they have little knowledge or are not aware of the prosperous careers that they can make in the maritime field. Besides schools take very less initiative to facilitate discussions about the various maritime career options available.

It is necessary to improve career awareness and preparedness. The schools can provide career guidance and address young women on careers in the maritime world, making them aware of the bright career prospects. Educators can also help students to translate awareness into pursuit of seafaring as a career. In order to attract women in the industry, institutions of higher education should have policies to help women understand and know about maritime careers in a  better. Career related magazines can be a source of information and newsletters from the maritime industry can be used as a medium to promote and highlight seafaring as a potential career for female (as well as male).

Women Seafarers
Copyrights Marine Insight/ Paromita M

2. Male dominated industry: Shipping has historically been a male dominated industry and that tradition runs long. One of the reasons as to why women have never taken this career option very seriously is this fact. There is little encouragement to face the very male dominated and competitive career path due to a lack of female role models. Besides one of the biggest challenges for women in this field is combating perceptions that such jobs are meant only for men and require a skill set more associated with them. Many women fear to enter the man’s world as they believe that they might face physical harassments and violence or severe verbal abuse as well as low levels of support from co-workers.

But this is not the true story. Company hiring women seafarers have strict policies to protect and safeguard their rights and identity. They have many complaint procedures. With more number of aspiring women seafarers this obstacle can be easily eliminated. We must find a way to make women feel that their gender does not govern how they perform in a working environment and thus make it easier for women to pursue and achieve their dreams.

3. No or less support: Women generally do not receive adequate support (Both from family and society) to choose seafaring as their career. Educators often do not provide the necessary skills and support to help young women climb the shipping sector ladder. Women are also deprived of family support which is very essential and crucial for them to establish their own identity in such a sector where women count is very limited.

Parents must be made aware of this field so as to motivate and encourage their daughters who are willing to make a difference. Lack of support is one of the reasons why women become upset, disappointed, and eventually step back from taking seafaring as a career. This is also the reason they are not seen as decision makers. These changes can definitely make merchant navy more acceptable by women.

Women Seafarers
Copyrights Marine Insight/ Paromita M

4. Less Acceptance By Companies: The difficulty of getting access to jobs and professional development in the maritime industry is also a reason for less women seafarers in the maritime sector. Lack of workplace support keeps women out of this career. Aspiring female seafarers perceive little chance of advancing in their field. Many women feel that they will be subjected to difficulties such as performance pressures or face a hard time moving up in the company.

Company should take initiative to allow for an equal representation of women in the maritime industry and give them equal opportunities. There are many companies who are not willing to hire women seafarers. Each and every shipping companies should have facilities and amenities so as to facilitate the dwelling of a women seafarer. Due to lack of career opportunities women back out and start looking for other jobs and develop a negative mind-set about job opportunities and career prospects in the maritime industry. Equal opportunities has come a long way, but still has further to go. Companies should alleviate the gender gap and promote gender equality and empower women. Only when we eliminate workplace sexual discrimination can we put these issues behind us.

5. Social Cultural and Practical Obstacles: Many women are not allowed to choose shipping as a career because of the long stay at sea. Finding a balance between demands of work and family has been a common issue. Staying away from family and friends for so long is not easy for women as well as men. Being on-board for several months might not satisfy the social role of a woman, making it not a very attractive field for women. This also has a lot to do with our social setup that believes that children must be brought up by women alone. The belief that even men would prefer not to marry a woman who spends months on the ship is disapproval for women who wish to step in the shipping industry. Women also face parental disapproval as they are not aware of the maternity rights and benefits which make them think that shipping is not an ideal career their daughters. Thus social pressure and traditional social responsibility stops women from pursuing such a career and forces them to choose land based jobs. Society must have the common recognition of the importance of the utilisation of the women work force.

6. Lack of workshops and seminars: The absence of organisations and regional networks is yet another reason for less women seafarers. Such organisations can conduct workshops and seminars to help young women exchange their views with experienced women seafarers and to help them develop a strong presence in the maritime sector. Other options that these organisations can provide are mentoring and sponsorship. They can create support groups and help in enhancing career preparation. This will push more women seafarers in this industry.

Women Seafarers
Copyrights Marine Insight/ Paromita M

7. Job security: Most of the private shipping companies provide contractual employment and do not have remarkable retirement benefits. Just like male seafarers, this is a concern for many women seafarers who look for job stability and retirement benefits like pension. Majority of the women prefer jobs with a stable source of income and a planned retired life. This is also a reason as to why women hesitate to join this industry.

Maritime industry offers great employment opportunities for male and female seafarers alike. However, employment equality has been a problem haunting the industry for quite sometime now. Unless some drastic steps are taken to bring awareness among prospective female seafarers and to enhance policies supporting their welfare, the numbers will continue to dwindle.

Disclaimer: The views mentioned above are of the author only. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Marine Insight do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader.

The article or images cannot be reproduced, copied, shared or used in any form without the permission of the author and Marine Insight. 

Do you have info to share with us ? Suggest a correction

Article Footer Banner
Article Footer Banner

Subscribe To Our Newsletters

By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.

Web Stories

About Author

Paromita has completed graduation in Nautical Science and is presently preparing for 2nd mate exams. Besides sailing, she loves to read books and travel. She has also won many awards in music.

29 Comments

  1. All said and done!!! Have you ever tought of family life after joining theis field. Will you be able to persue your careeer after marrage.
    This is why the career is not aft for women expetct if you decide to remain a spinster for the rest of your life.

  2. @kuriakose george
    In addition to your last sentence…
    Or except if you live in a progressive culture where men with this point of view tend to be left at the bottom of the social scale with slim chances of finding success – job or family wise – as their seen as stale, boxed minded and uninteresting.

  3. Dear Sir,
    Please ask the seafarers who have sailed with female seafarers.My company have stopped taking in female seafarers from India.

  4. this is good if only we re given 100% support and encouragement from families and companies.

  5. There are certain environments that are just not friendly for females…its a very hard life and eventually if the female crew member decides to or gets pregnant the company has to get someone else. Thats why they rather hire males.

  6. As a seafarer who works in the engine room..there are only 3 engineers and 3 oilers who rotate across 24 hrs. I have only one oiler to help me lift things transfer clean take readings accept phonecalls alarms and so on. Most of the time we both are alone at night. If there is a woman with me at night alone..not only will I not finish the work but it could danger my life or she might find something offensive and complain and destroy my livelihood. Most jobs require people to work close together..sweat a lot and requires a lot of muscles. I need men to complete my job.

  7. Hello:
    I´m a woman and I´m studying marine engineer in Uruguay, It´s very true the reasons exposed in this article in my country too. The women needs more information about the posibilities of work at sea.
    All the seafers (men and women) must be protected about their rigths, because work on board still be a work, and all workers have rigth to self dignity.
    About the work himself, it´s not about muscles and testosterone, it´s about resposability and solidarity. And all us we have to learn about workteam with other people.
    Regards from Uruguay.

  8. The 8th reason (and its really strange the author doesn’t mention it as I find it to be one of the biggest) is that its virtually impossible to have children and eaise them as a woman.

  9. Women are gifted with the power to give birth to a child. However this can’t be a reason to stop women from progressing in careers like such. I know women sailing with their small child onboard. All it needs is a little support and a strong will. Women are just not meant to sit in the corner of a house and rear their children. To all who think women can’t make this happen probably women like us Will bring a change to such thinking.

  10. I lost the count on how many times men have told me: But this is a men job…

    Guess what?! It’s not…

    YES we will be harass almost every day (I have been, and I will continue be)
    YES it will be hard (it’s not an easy job at all)
    YES you will have to proof every single day, you can do the job (And that won’t stop us)
    YES you will have to proof you are as good as a men, and be told you are not good at all
    YES our salary will be less because we are women
    That’s all YES

    But since that ever stopped us from doing what we want?
    WE should do what we want, and what we love…

    AND knowing we CAN DO IT!

    I have been doing this for the past 9 years… and I still have more years to come.

    I absolutely love the days, where I did so much walking/climbing/crawling, I’m completely dirty, my boiler suit NEEDS an urgent wash, your body just asks for a break. Those days, are GREAT! Those days, I come home, lay down in bed knowing I DID a good job, I did my JOB.
    I have been a surveyor for the past 9 years.
    I was the first female surveyor in Brazil, and today I work in South Korea.

    All those reasons are true. But it should never stop us!

  11. Hi author.im working on a case study about the factors that influence the increase in enrollment of female bachelor of science in marine transportation.wll u give me some insights bout this..ive been on ships too as a messman.but now im studying.pls help me through this.tnx.and god bls

  12. I am an evidence of demotion in maritime industry because of being a female.
    It is so painful and discouraging that I will not encourage any female to choose the career in Nigeria.
    I wasted my time and resources to get unlimited licence, basic DP and advance DP and at the end of the day I only work on a 18ton boat.
    no progress.

  13. I currently work in the shipping industry dealing with freight, I am a 26 year old straight women who doesn’t want any children (LOL)! I want to be a seafarer, I want to eventually make it to 3rd mate and beyond. I can lift up to 100 lbs and I am athletic. Please I started my courses but I need to know what are my chances of getting hired? What would I have to do to prove I want this job and that I’m capable of doing it. I’m extremely competitive so I know I can beat out my competition as long as I am given a far chance. MY email is battle.cassandra@gmail.com and I’d to chat with anyone on the topic.

  14. Since everlasting it was job for men but not for women! Something is going wrong in the World: men become a baby-sitter & house keeper while women become a body-builder with dirty hands…
    It won’t be surprised soon if the Vessel instead of word SHE will be changed to HE !!!
    Such as: ” How does she, BUT HE answer the helm?”

  15. Lack of family support is a problem faced by men too. I have interacted with many male officers who quit shipping. Reason? No support from their wives. Plus in my 4 years of engineering, i’ve seen very few girls who were actually willing to sweat it out like guys. So why should “male dominated industry” be used as an excuse for their unwillingness to work? All i’m saying is, if they are willing to work hard & put up with harsh working environments, then yes, they should be given the chance.

  16. The comments left on this article so far are absolutely disgraceful. It is downright disgusting that in this day and age there are so called men still saying and believing the nasty, sexist and ignorant that have been listed above. A woman’s place is wherever she wants to be! Who the hell do any of you think you are to simply dismiss a woman’s intelligence competency and education with a wave of the hand, simply because she is a woman? We are more than goddamn incubators!! Each and every one of you who have such disgusting attitudes better hope and pray that you never have the misfortune of crossing paths with me on a ship because no matter your rank or who you think you are, I promise it will be the last time you spineless wastes of space ever repeat such horrendous bile. You make me sick.

  17. Nice article.. author has covered all points without being biased.
    Glad to find out that marineinsight is widening their horizon and touching aspects which remain untouched for so many years.

  18. I´m a chief Engineer from PERU with 15 year of experience .
    And my best strength is has been my determination to develop
    my profession. Despite the little and nonexistent support of
    international organization, peruvian state, shipping company , colleagues.
    for a equal of job for women.

    best regards.

  19. HI I HAVE WORKED WITH BOURBON MORE THAN 5YRS AS A SAILOR HAVE BEEN THROUGH SO MUCH BUT MALE DOMINATION HAVE BEEN A BIG PART , BUT I HAVE LEARNT SO MANY THINGS ON MY JOURNEY THERE AND YES I AM A WOMAN IF MOST COMPANY WILL OPEN THEIR DOORS TO GIVE WOMEN THE CHANCE THIS WILL BE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY

  20. The real reason (and everyone should stop b.s on about some kids) is companies don’t want to hire women because when you’re out to sea for periods men turn into horn dogs and they don’t want their company hit with sexual harrassment also they want to keep it for men because its one of the few the males have left to themselves.

    Has completely nothing to do kids. I don’t have kids. Most women that gets into this know what its about already. I honestly may go back to the navy. Keep your sexist industry. Its falling btw

  21. If you could only see the bigger picture why they encourage women to sail. Managers are more likely to see than employees. If you know what i mean.

  22. Please stop saying about family. Im a single mom. I have no husband to feed my child not even helping me for his education. We have reasons why we need to sail.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *