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For women, more jobs – but a culture of discrimination

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Contenu de la page: Accueil > Magazine Transport international > Issue 1 June 2000 > More jobs for women – more discrimination

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Women are making up increasing numbers of cruise ship seafarers, but they are concentrated in the lowly-paid domestic jobs. The rapid expansion of the fleet, with its consequent demand for labour, has led shipping companies to look to women as a new source of labour supply. In addition, concerns over sexual harassment of both passengers and crew have meant a deliberate policy of recruiting more women has been adopted in order to create a more balanced workforce.

Research by Minghua Zhao, of the ITF-funded Seafarers’ International Research Centre at Cardiff University, based on a survey of more than 60 cruise ships has shown that women now make up about 20 per cent of the seafaring labour force, equivalent to about 15,000 women.

“The operation of the cruise ship is segregated by gender,” says Ms Zhao, “All the captains are men and no woman is found in deck and engine departments. Women concentrate in hotel, catering and other ‘non-technical’ sectors of the vessel.”

Nationality is another main factor in the allocation of jobs. Women from developed countries are far more likely to be found in a small number of management or administrative positions. They are also likely to be employed as entertainers, beauticians, nurses, aerobics leaders and receptionists.

On the other hand women from Asian and less developed countries are almost entirely employed in the “hotel” functions of the ship in catering, waiting and cabin staff positions.
The segregation is continued in salary. Western women are almost always paid more than those from less developed countries, even when they are doing the same job.

“The wage levels vary greatly from $270 to $2,400 per month for the same or similar positions,” says Ms Zhao. “There are many variables involved. But the seafarers’ nationality is the most important factor. For example, waitresses from England, France and Germany are paid more than twice as much as waitresses from Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines on a top-market cruise ship operating worldwide. Similar patterns are found in ships operating in Asia-Pacific.”

Western women are far more likely to be young and single and will have typically worked in the hotel and catering industries. Even when recruited from non-English speaking countries, they will have experience of working in English speaking areas.

They will be going to sea “to meet people from different cultures” or “to see the world” and their prime motivation is not financial. Many of these women were born and brought up in port areas with relatives or friends who have seafaring and/or hotel/catering experiences. They do not expect to stay at sea for more than a year or two, before going back on land to familiar jobs in hotels and catering.

Comparatively, more Asian women seafarers are married with children and will tend to have more years of higher education. Like western women, most of these women will have an employment history in hotels or restaurants. Fluency in English varies greatly, with Filipino women being most able to speak English easily. But unlike western women, the prime motivation in going to sea will be financial. They hope to be able to stay on board for longer than western women, the length of time being largely dependent on their financial needs.

Like their male counterparts, women on cruise ships will work long hours, seven days a week. Most will share cabins, which will be segregated from male accommodation.

“We find no woman in any case who has expressed an intention to work at sea for more than six years,” says Ms Zhao. “The hard labour aboard and their consideration for family life, especially marriage and children, are cited as the two most important reasons for them to project their future this way. In this respect, we find not much difference between women from developing or developed countries nor do we find much evidence indicating a significant difference between women and men.”

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Issue 1 June 2000

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