353
1 INTRODUCTION
It is known that millions of women and men are
pushed to certain job groups and worked with low
wages because of their gender, skin colour, ethnic
reasonsorreligion,withouttakingintoaccounttheir
abilities or qualifications, all over the world.
Protection against discrimination is part of the
fundamental human rights and equalizing the
condit
ionsoftheemployeesintheworkplace brings
significant economic benefits.For the employers,
this means more work force, higher quality and for
the workers it means easier access to training and
highersalaries.Thebenefitsofaglobalisedeconomy
arebetterallocatedinanequalit
ariansocietyandthey
generateahighersocialstabilityandawidersupport
frompeopleinthefavourofeconomicdevelopment.
The regulations of the International Labour
Organization (ILO) about equality secure
discriminationeliminationfromallfieldsofworkand
society. Since 1919, ILO has developed an
Turkish Women Seafarers and A Quastionnaire Study
on Employment Situation
H.Yilmaz,E.Başar&Ü.Özdemir
KaradenizTechnicalUniversity,Trabzon,Turkey
ABSTRACT:Throughouthistory,womenhavestruggledtogainaplaceandestablishtheirpresenceinsocial
life.Mostly,theyhavecontinuedtheirlifeinthepositionofcarryingoutfamilyresponsibilities.Whenwomen
wanttogetinvolvedinthebusinessworld,theyarefacingsomeproblemsarisingfromdogmaticthi
nkingand
prejudices,especiallyamongtheprofessionswithʺmale‐dominatedʺjudiciary.Maritime profession,oneofthe
oldestprofessionsintheworld,wasalsoregardedasasingle‐genderareauntilthe20thcentury.However,in
recent years, economical and political changes in the world, equal opportunity in education and incent
ive
works of the International Maritime Organization have led women to work as seafarers. Although female
seafarers constitute 2% of the world seafarers, this ratio is higher in developed countries than that of
undevelopedordevelopingcountries(URL‐1).Thereisverylittleinformationregardingwomenseafarersin
general, including the act
ual population size. Most of studies focus on passenger ships or cruise ships, not
cargo ships (Sohyun, 2010). It is difficult to find relevant studies regarding women seafarers in the world,
includinginTurkey.
InTurkey,womenhaveplayedanactiveroleandgainedanapparentidentityinthema
ritimesectorsincethe
2000s.Accordingto2015data,Turkeyisranksthe14thintheworldmaritimetradewithmorethan27,6million
deadweight tonnage and manages 1530 vessels (UNCTAD, 2015). In Turkey, many studies related to the
employmentofseafarersarecarriedoutasinthewholeworld.However,studiesontheemploymentofwomen
seafarers should be pa
id more attention. In this study, a questionnaire was carried out with the personnel
department managers in Turkish shipping companies. Employment, career, educational status of female
seafarersandthegeneraldifficultiestheyfacewererevealed.
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 10
Number 2
June 2016
DOI:10.12716/1001.10.02.18
354
international regulation work system focused on
increasing men and women chances in obta ining a
goodandproductivejobinfreedom,equity,security
and dignity conditions regardless of the working
domain. In the today worldwide economy, the
international work regulations are an essential
component of the international framework and they
have
asmainpurposetoensurethateverybody(men
andwomen)profitsfromtheworldeconomygrowth
(PopescuandVarsami,2010).
According to United Nations 2010 globally
statistics,women’sparticipationinthelabourmarket
remained steady in the two decades from 1990 to
2010,hoveringaround52percent.Incontrast,
global
labour force participation rates for men declined
steadilyoverthesameperiod,from81to77percent.
In 2010, women’s labour force participation rates
remain below 30 per cent in Northern Africa and
Western Asia; below 40 per cent in Southern Asia;
andbelow50 percent in the
Caribbean andCentral
America. The gap between participation rates of
womenandmenhasnarrowedslightlyinthelast20
yearsbutremainsconsiderable(UN,2010).According
toWorldBank2012data,womenrepresent40%ofthe
world’s labor force but hold just 1% of the world’s
wealth (World Bank,
2012).For other researchers,
women representat least 1/3 of the world of labor.
Morethan50%ofwomenareeconomicallyactivein
more than 90 countries. Despite the importance of
womeninthenationaleconomyandtheirincometo
thefamily,socialprotectionisinsufficientneitherfor
them nor for their
families. Due to the special
operating conditions, marine transportation industry
is one of the sectors which needs to be analyzed in
protecting benefits of women. Female seafarers
constitute2%oftheworldseafarers(ILO,2007;ILO,
2010; Popescu and Varsami, 2010; URL‐1; WHO,
2003).
InTurkey,womenhavebegun
toshowthemselves
in various branches of the maritime sector since the
1980sandtheirexistenceinthesectorhasshowed a
rapid increase especially after 2000. Womenʹs
employment in commercial vessels and the
acceptance of female students to maritime schools
havebeenrealizedafter1991(Aşkın,2016).
According to data from the year 2015, Turkey
ranked the fourteenth in the world maritime trade
with more than 27 million deadweight tonnage
management and management of 1530 ships is
performed in Turkey . They are registered in both
internationalandnationalrecord(100GTandover)
and have total
capacity of more than 27,6 million
DWT (UNCTAD, 2015).Although the last
information shown us that 3500 women seafarers
registered in Turkey (Aşkın, 2016),2245 women
sefarers’ details are announced in this study. When
thesequastionnairestudycarried,thetotalnumberof
seafarers registered in Turkish Seafarersʹ Registry is
178134and2246 of themarefemaleseafarers. 45677
of them are the officers and 132457 of them are
ratings.However,thenumberofactiveemployeesare
36254 as officers and 83316 as ratings (
e‐Maritime
Database,2013)
.
2 FEMALESEAFARERSREGISTEREDIN
TURKISHSEAFARERSREGISTRY
According to the 2013 year‐end data, there are 2246
women seafarers registered in Turkish Seafarersʹ
Registry. Turkish female seafarersʹ mean ages and
distributionofcompetencesareshowninTable1.As
detailed in Table 1, female seafarer statistics are
classified under
the segments of deck engine and
others in Fig1. The competences shown under deck
andenginedepartmentsareconsideredaccordingto
crewmanningregulations andthestandardsofcargo
ships in todayʹs Turkish merchant fleet. Thus, yacht
captain, doctor, nurse, ship clerk competencies and
the competencies that have been
recorded in the
registrywithoutspecifyingthenatureareclassifiedas
ʺothersʺ.
Table1. Femaleseafarersrecorded in TurkishSeafarers’
Registry
_______________________________________________
RankAge MeanNumber
Period Age
_______________________________________________
OceangoingMaster30‐40 32,5 22
OceangoingChiefOfficer26‐39 3255
OceangoingWatchkeepingOfficer22‐47 27,76 124
Master41‐57 48,17 6
ChiefOfficer36‐73 503
WatchkeepingOfficer24‐36 26,92 13
RestrictedMaster32‐41 35,5 4
RestrictedWatchkeepingOfficer 27‐61 40,6 10
DeckCadet17‐54 22,16 423
ShippingClerk35‐68 53,29 14
Boatswain55 551
Ableseaman20‐68 45,35 123
OrdinarySeaman17‐67 36,46 367
DeckBoy22‐73 39,68 284
Cook22‐67 40,46 97
Steward20‐69 33,88 520
Doctor37‐55 44,67 3
Nurse29‐53 395
OceangoingChiefEngineer 31‐
34 32,33 6
OceangoingSecondEngineer 30‐34 32,33 3
OceangoingWatchkeeping 27‐34 28,79 19
Engineer
ChiefEngineer41‐71 592
EngineerOfficer24‐25 24,5 2
EngineCadet18‐30 22,78 18
Electrician/ElectronicOfficer/ 22‐41 31,75 4
ElectronicOperator
Donkeyman54 541
Wiper27
‐65 41,17 12
Oiler/Motorman29‐54 39,55 11
YachtMaster21‐69 37,85 40
Unknownrecord21‐60 39,87 54
Total2246
_______________________________________________
Resource:e‐MaritimeDatabaseofTransport,MaritimeAffairs
andCommunicationsMinistryofTurkishRepublic
355
E.Of.:ElectricOfficer,E.Op.:ElectricOperator
Figure1.Female seafarers recorded in Turkish Seafarers’
Registry
Competencies of female seafarers and the mean
age data are shown in Fig2 separately for each
proficiency level. In Fig3, the mean age data of the
registered female seafarers are classified by
departments. The number of people in each
proficiencylevelareshowninFig4.
WATCH.: Watchkeeping,E.OF.: Electric Officer,E.OP.:
ElectricOperator
Figure2. Registered female seafarers’ mean age by all
competencies
E.OF.:ElectricOfficer,E.OP.:ElectricOperator
Figure3. Registered female seafarers’ mean age in
categories
Figure4.Registeredfemaleseafarers’numbersincategories
3 METHODS
Inthisstudy,aquestionnairewascarriedoutwiththe
personneldepartmentmanagersin Turkish shipping
companies. Employment, career, educational status
and the general difficulties of female seafarers were
revealed.40corporate firms wereinterviewed.In 19
of these cases, it was determined that there was no
female seafarer
employment. It was reported that
femalepersonnelwerecurrentlyworkingonboardin
the remaining 21 firms at the time of the survey.
Studyassessmentshavebeenperformedwiththedata
of16companieswhoparticipatedinthesurvey.
In the survey, 24 multiple choice questionswere
directed to the participants.
The personnel
departmentmanagersʹopinionswerealsomentioned.
Apartofthesurveyquestionsaimedtodeterminethe
service years of companies, types, tonnages and
numbers of vessels, engine powers, number of
maritime‐related employees, competence and
educationlevelofseafarersinthefleets.Intheother
section, itwasintended to identify the number
and
competencies of female seafarers, education levels,
types of ships they are employed, age and marital
status, employment and wage policies. The survey
alsotriedtorevealtheconditionsthatcomplicatethe
workoffemaleseafarers.
4 FINDINGSANDCONCLUSIONS
4.1 CompanyandFleetProfiles
ThegraphicsinFig5andFig6
showtheprofilesofthe
companiesandfleetsofthesurveyedfirms.Allofthe
surveyedfirmsareexperiencedcorporatecompanies
with large tonnage vessels in the transportation
sector.
Figure5.Companyprofilesofsurveyedfirms
356
Figure 6. Fleet profiles of surveyed firms
4.2 FindingsRelatedtoFleetPersonnel
The total number of fleet personnel (5648) and the
distributionofcompetencesfor16surveyedfirmsare
shown in Fig7. In Fig 7,ʺothersʺ group means
seafarers working as fitter and pumpers (117) and
crewʹs family members with ordinary seafarer and
stewardcompetencies
(14).
Figure7. Number of allcrewemployed on vessels of
surveyedfirms
122 of all detected crew is consistsof female
seafarers. The distribution of female seafarersʹ
competencies is shown in Fig8.ʺOthersʺ group of
women seafarers have been reported as relatives of
thecrewonboardwiththecompetenciesofordinary
seafarerandsteward.Theyarenotactiveseafarers.
Figure8. Number of female crew employed on vessels of
surveyedfirms
Figure 9 shows the number of male and female
employees for each competency.When Fig 9 is
analyzed, it is observed that women are working in
tasks that require many operational capabilities like
captain,officersandengineers.Also,thepresenceof
femalecadetsondeckandenginedeparmentsshows
thatthenumber
offemaleseafarershaveincreasedin
competencies that require technical and operational
skills.InspiteofthefactthatthebeliefʺWomencan
dobetterʺisacceptedbysocietyforpublicservicejobs
such as food preparation and cleaning, female
employment is not seen as cook and steward.
However, there are
97 female cooks and 520 female
stewards already registered in Turkish Seafarersʹ
Registry (e‐Maritime Database, 2013). Similarly,
althoughalargenumberofotherrating proficiencies
registered,nofemaleseafarersareseenasrating.
Figure9.Seafarersbygendersonsurveyedfirms
Theofficerseafarersaresubjectedtoclassification
as management level and operational level, and are
showninFig10fordeckdepartmentandinFig11for
enginedepartment.Fordeckdepartment,masterand
chiefofficersareevaluatedatmanagementleveland
watchkeeping officers are evaluated at operation
level. For engine department, chief
engineer and
secondengineersareevaluatedatmanagementlevel
and watchkeeping engineers and electricians are
evaluatedatoperationlevel.
Figure10.The officersat deckdepartmentbygendersand
levels
357
Figure11.Theofficersatenginedepartmentbygendersand
levels
In Figure 11., the crew employed on vessels of
surveyedfirmsarecategorizedinfourclasses.Deck
classiscomposedofbosun,ableseamanandordinary
seaman ranks. Engine class is composed of
donkeyman,ableseafarerengineandoiler/motorman
ranks. “Ableseafarer engine” term means the
experiencedoiler/motorman.Hotelclassiscomposed
of cooks
and stewards. No female seafarers are
employed at deck, engine and hotel departments.
“Others” class is composed of pumpers and fitters
ofmales. Although 14 female seafarers in “others”
classhaveordinaryseafarerandstewardranks,they
arefamilymembersofthecrewandtheyareonboard
likepassengers.
Figure11. Ratings employed on vessels of surveyed firms
bygendersanddepartments
InFig12.,cadetsemployedonvesselsofsurveyed
firms are shown by genders and departments.
Accordingto academiccalender of maritime schools
inTurkey, thetranieeisgettingmoreonshipsinthe
summerterm. The numbers of traniee (cadets) in
Fig12wereidentifiedinthefalltermduringwhichthe
surveywas
conducted.
Figure12.Cadetsbygendersanddepartments
Fleet personnel of surveyed firms were also
examinedintermsofeducationalstatus.Educational
statusof2186of2381menintheofficerclasshasbeen
determined(1033of1123meninthedeckofficer,1153
of1258menintheengineofficer).Thetotalnumberof
female seafarers in the
officer class is 79 and
educational status of all female sefarers have been
reported. Educational status of the officer class are
givenseparatelyinFig13bygenders.
Figure13.Educationalstatusoftheofficer
Whentheeducationalstatusofratingsofsurveyed
firmswereanalyzed,itwasseenthattheeducational
status of 2551 ratings out of 2838 ratings were
reported. 1730 of them are deck ratings and 821 of
them are engine ratings. All of them are male
seafarers. There are no female seafarers as
rating in
the surveyed fleets. Detected 14 female ratings
arefamily members on board with seafarer
documents.Educationalstatusofratingsisshownin
Fig14.The qualifications of cook, steward, fitter and
pumper have been included in the deck and engine
class.
Deck and engine cadetsʹ educational status is
shownin
Fig15.Thenumbersbelongtothefallterm
andtheyincreaseinthesummerterm.
Figure14.Educationalstatusofratings
358
Figure15.Deckandenginecadets’educationalstatus
Ship types were also investigated in terms
offemale employment in surveyed fleets. Percentage
of16firmsisgiveninFig16accordingtothetypeof
vessel in which female personnel are employed. In
threecompanies from these, operating bothtypes of
tankeranddrycargovesselsandfemaleseafarersare
employed
ontankers. Oneofthe three companiesis
also operating oil and fuel barges, but there is not
femaleemploymentinthesebarges.
Figure16. Vessel types in which female personnel are
employed
In addition, it is determined that there is not a
restriction on womenʹs employment in the Turkish‐
flagged and foreign‐flagged vessels of surveyed
firms.Femaleseafarerswerefoundtobeemployedin
bothclasses.
When the age range of female seafarers is
investigated,Table2hascometolight.
Besides,itwasseenthattherewasnotawagegap
between male and female seafarers doing the same
task(Fig17).
Figure17.Thewagegapbetweenmaleandfemaleseafarers
Table2.Femaleseafarers’agerangesonsurveyedfleets
_______________________________________________
Ageperiodoffemaleseafarers
Company 18andless 19‐25 26‐30 31‐35 36&over
_______________________________________________
1X
2X
3X X X
4X
5X
6X
7X
8X X
9X X
10X X
11X
12X
13X
14X X
15X
16X X
_______________________________________________
The companies asked about “married female
seafarers”; “female seafarers who have children”;
“female seafarers who married with a seafarer” and
“the opportunity of working together for seafarers
couples”. It was determined as “there is” or “there
isn’t”inFig18.
Figure18. The number of companies with married and
motherfemaleseafarers
The companies also asked about what reasons
female seafarers who left the job had for quitting
work.In3companies,therewerenofemaleseafarers
who left job. In other companies, the reasons of
female seafarers who left job was found to be as
follows;
Workplacedissatisfaction
Marriage
Contract
end
Internshipsend
Leaveworkatsea
Prefertoworkonoceangoingvoyage
Excessivealcoholconsumption
Studyabroad
Tempo on tanker and transportation of chemical
cargo
Herownrequest
When the existence of a written policy regarding
female seafarers was investigated, in two
of the 16
companies it wasfound that there were written
employment policies.14 companies did not have a
writtenpolicyregardingthefemaleseafarers.
359
The past of companies with female seafarers is
showninFig19.
Figure19. Thenumber of companies by years withfemale
seafarers
The companies asked about the situations that
complicatetheworkoffemaleseafarers.Accordingto
the personnel department managers’ answers, the
resultsarecategorizedasfollows:
Conditionsofaccommodation
Physicaldifferences
Superior‐subordinaterelationship
Difficulties in destination ports (personnel
changes,etc.)
Shipʹspersonnelnotto
acceptfemalestaff
Familylifeandmarriageinlateryears
Emotionality
The personnel department managerswere also
asked toindicate their own opinions about female
seafarers. 13 managers clearly said that they were
satisfiedtoworkwithfemaleseafarersandthatthey
wantedtoworkwithfemaleseafarersformanyyears.
However,othermanagersmadesomeothercomments.
Oneofthemwasalsovery
interesting.Followingare
thecommentsmadebythem;
Femaleseafarerstendtogoashoreearlywiththe
prejudice ofʺIʹm a woman.They do not give me
thecaptainorchiefengineerposition.ʺ
Usually, women married with sailors stay at sea
longer.Ineachcase,femaleseafarersʹ
professional
marinelifeisendingafterbirth.Theycannotgoto
sea because they can not leave children to their
husbands.
Female officers have no problems about
documentation and in compliance with company
procedures. However, it was observed that they
are experiencing difficulties in the parts of the
physical
needsof theoperational proceduresand
technical skills, according to their male
counterparts.
“The biggest problem of female employment is
stillfemaleemployeeherself.Femalestaffʹsegois
fed unnecessarily due to the small number and
beinginthelimelight.Overtime,theyarehavinga
request to
establish an unfounded superiority
against other crew. Also, theyʹre being selective
among the crew and theyʹre getting
disproportionate force in directing the crew
behaved well. This situation often leads to
imbalance in the ship. For example; the crew
member behaved well by female seafarer, feels
himselfinaprivileged
positionthanothers.Other
peopleare taking sidesagainst this situationand
begins to hate. This hatred often explode in
smallerevents.”
5 RESULTS
As a result of this study, for govermental record,
followingitemsweredetected:
The total number of seafarers registered on
Turkish Seafarersʹ Registry (2013 year‐
end) is
178134 and 2246 of them are female seafarers. It
means1,26%ofTurkishseafarersarefemale.
45677 of all seafarers are officers and 132457 of
them are ratings. It means 25,6% of Turkish
seafarers are officers and 74,3% of them are
ratings.
Thenumberofactive
employeesare36254forthe
officerand83316forratings.Itmeans79.3%ofthe
officerand62,9%ofratingsareactiveseafarers.
Thepercentageof2246registeredfemaleseafarers
is as follows; 14%the officer, 20% cadets, 64%
ratingsand2%unknown.
Thefollowingitemsweredetectedastheresults
of
ourquestionnairestudywith16companies,:
Totalcrewnumberis 5648, and 5526ofthemare
male, 122 of them are female seafarers. It means
97,8% of all fleet personel of surveyed firms are
male and 2,2% of them are female seafarers.
However,theactivefemaleseafarerson
surveyed
firmsare108people.Inthiscase,theactualrateof
seafarers is 98,1% for male and 1,9% for female. It
also shows us that in these Turkish ships, the
atmosphereissuitableforfamiliesandawayfrom
hostility.
In surveyed firms, the percentage of women on
board by
ranks is as follows: master 1%, chief
officer21%,46%watchkeepingofficer,deckcadet
24%, chief engineer 3%,second engineer 2%,
watchkeeping engineer 4%, engine cadet 4% and
others(families)11%.
Insurveyedfirms,thepercentageofmenonboard
byranksisasfollows:master5%,chiefofficer
5%,
watchkeeping officer10%, deck cadet 3%, chief
engineer6%,secondengineer5%,watchkeeping
engineer 7%, electrician 5%, engine cadet 2%,
bosun/boatswain 5%, ableseaman 18%, ordinary
seaman3%,cook5%,steward4%,donkeyman2%,
ableseafarer engine 5%, oiler/motorman 8%and
others(fitterandpumper)2%.
The ratio of women on
board for all these 16
companies is;for the deck officer 5,7%, for the
engineofficer0.8%,foractiveratings0%, fordeck
cadet12%andforenginecadet3,5%atthetimeof
thesurvey.
The percentage of educational status for 2186 of
2381men in the officer class
is as follows; high
school10%,associatedegree14%,bachelor’slevel
75%,postgraduate0,1%.
Thepercentageofeducationalstatusforallwomen
in the officer class is as follows; high school 5%,
associate degree 2,5%, bachelor’s level 88,5%,
postgraduate4%.
The percentage of educational status for 2551 of
2838
menintheratingclassisasfollows;primary
school41,6%,secondaryschool30,2%,highschool
24,5%,associatedegree3,5%,bachelorslevel0,2%.
360
There isno restriction related with ship’s flag for
femaleseafarers’employment.
Insomecompanies,tankersaremoreavailablefor
female seafarers’ employment and there are no
womenonbargesinonecompany.
Forfemaleseafarersemployedinsurveyedfleets,
mainagerangeis19‐25,maxage
rangeis31‐35.
There is no wage gap between female and male
seafarers.
Married and/or mother female seafarers can be
employeesonvessels.
Experience of surveyed firms with female
seafarersreachesto12‐14years.
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