Tom Storey

ABSTRACT

Focussing on the cargo fleet, this paper explores where the barriers are that prevent women being able to, or even wanting to, work at sea. From cultural to structural, barriers are present at almost every level of the industry and few methods of increasing gender balance seem a plausible solution to correct this. The challenge of this paper is to pursue the feasibility and auspiciousness of whether an all-women shipping company could bring gender balance to the shipping industry. Never in history has there been an all-women crewed ship in the merchant navy. It would create a unique environment in which the traditional system of predominantly male officers and crews that is present on nearly every cargo ship worldwide is removed. From a sociological aspect, new challenges are bound to arise onboard and new approaches to challenges will form. From a crewing aspect, the expected influx due to a more desirable working environment would create a larger skill pool with a larger amount of emotional intelligence, a factor that has been calculated to be extremely valuable to a company’s diverse thinking. From a leadership aspect, female juniors, cadets and crew will have better access to mentors who will be more approachable and without the threat many females have faced working at sea. The findings show if an all-woman shipping company will be the quickest and safest method to increase the number of women seafarers by creating a skill pool that wants to work at sea.