Women seafarers

It's still rare to find women workers at sea but, largely thanks to trade unions, more women are confronting prejudice and becoming valuable members of ships' crew.

Women have proven that working at sea can be a positive and rewarding career for them. But it can also be challenging to work in a predominantly male culture. That’s why the ITF is working with the maritime industry to encourage more women seafarers and to ensure a positive shipboard environment.

There’s never been a better time to be a woman seafarer

Now is a good time for women to go into seafaring jobs, as nearly half of the current workforce will reach retirement age in the next 10 years. As the number of capable candidates is not keeping up with the growing maritime industry, companies are turning to women and young workers, who are currently underrepresented.

The nature of many jobs at sea is changing. With increased digitalisation and automation, success in maritime is much more about using your intellect than your muscles, and shipping needs trained crew who are up to date on new technology, which means more opportunities for young women. 

Employers are always looking for employees who offer something valuable. Women provide new perspectives and leadership styles that can be very beneficial to a typically male-dominated industry. Employers are becoming more aware of and open to the positives and potential of employing women. And ILO studies have indicated that having women onboard creates a more normal social environment and can reduce the sense of isolation felt by many seafarers

Women at sea: the facts

• The number of women seafarers is rising. In 2020, there were an estimated 24,000 women seafarers, an increase of 46 percent since 2015. However, women make up just 1.2 percent of the world’s seafaring workforce.
• There has also been a slight increase in the number of officers who are women seafarers - 0.85 percent in 2020, up from 0.7 percent in 2015.
• Women seafarers work mainly in the cruise and ferry sectors, where most vessels are covered by collective bargaining agreements signed by ITF maritime unions. These contain non-discrimination clauses.
• The coronavirus pandemic caused many to move from cruising into cargo, where a woman seafarer will typically be outnumbered 20:1 in an otherwise all-male crew.

Barriers to women entering maritime 

Arguably the two most significant barriers to women going to sea are: 

• a lack of awareness of the industry and of the opportunities it presents – unless you know someone who works at sea, it may be invisible to you as a career, and
• the persistent but outdated perception that seafaring is only for men – particularly if you don’t know that more women are joining and never see images of women working on board ships. The other main barriers are:
• the male-centred culture,
• the lack of provision and structures for women on board, and
• fear of discrimination, bullying, harassment and sexual violence

Changes needed to attract more women seafarers 

The ITF is working at the global and regional level with employers, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and trade unions to prioritise the following issues to promote change in the industry so that more women are encouraged to join. 

ITF agreements all contain policies to promote diversity and equality on board. Raise awareness of the maritime opportunities for women Promote and support best practice example of companies that employ mixed crew and have policies in place to support diversity. For example, AP Moller-Maersk announced India’s first Women Seafarers’ Cadet Programme in May 2022. Designed in association with the Academy of Maritime Education and Training (AMET) in Chennai, the programme will promote seafaring careers amongst young women. Maersk has also set an ambitious goal: for women to make up 50 percent of its cadet intake by 2027