The report was based on the Women Seafarers’ Health and Welfare survey, a joint initiative by the ITF, the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN), the International Maritime Health Association (IMHA) and the Seafarers Hospital Society (SHS).
A high number of women seafarers also highlighted the provision of sanitary bins on board ship as a concern, prompting the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) representative to agree that she would ask its member companies to provide proper facilities.
Joint/back pain and stress/depression/anxiety were reported by nearly half of the 595 survey respondents as the two biggest health challenges they faced. The survey revealed that the biggest issue preventing women seafarers’ access to healthcare while at sea was lack of confidentiality. And over half the respondents would welcome routine wellness checks.
ITF maritime co-ordinator Jacqueline Smith said: “This survey underlines how relatively little research there has been so far into women’s working lives at sea. It helps fill some of the gaps and illustrates the need for a better understanding as to how we can improve conditions on board to attract more women to sea.
“We particularly welcome the fact that the survey points to relatively inexpensive and easily instituted improvements that can help make that change possible: confidentiality, a focus on stress, better health information.”
Tim Carter, Norwegian Centre for Maritime Medicine and chief medical advisor to the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, chaired the meeting. The other speakers were Olivia Swift, Goldsmiths/Royal Holloway; Ilona Denisenko, IMHA president; and Natalie Shaw, ICS employment affairs director.
An estimated 1-2 percent of the world’s 1.25m seafarers are women, serving on some 87,000 ships, mostly in the cruise sector.
Download the survey report.
