Navigating Beyond Boundaries: A Qualitative Inquiry on the Experiences of Women Seafarers in a Male-Dominated Maritime Industry

Women’s participation in seafaring continues to be shaped by the challenges of working within a traditionally male-dominated maritime industry. This study explored the experiences of women seafarers, particularly their motivations for entering the profession, challenges encountered at sea, professional development, coping strategies, support systems, and contributions to the maritime workplace. The findings revealed four major themes: Entering and Navigating a Male-Dominated Profession; Establishing Professional Legitimacy Through Competence; Resilience, Coping, and Support at Sea; and From Individual Achievement to Institutional Inclusion. Participants were motivated by economic stability, career development, family aspirations, international exposure, personal independence, and interest in maritime work. Despite these motivations, they experienced gender stereotyping, discrimination, unequal opportunities, recruitment and deployment difficulties, and practical workplace barriers. Nevertheless, participants established professional legitimacy through competence, reliability, professionalism, leadership, and technical performance. Their experiences also demonstrated that resilience developed through exposure to challenges and was strengthened by family, peers, mentors, crewmates, and organizational support. The findings further showed that women contribute significantly to maritime operations through technical competence, safety consciousness, teamwork, communication, leadership, and diverse perspectives. Overall, the study indicates that women’s successful participation in seafaring requires more than individual resilience and competence. Sustainable inclusion requires institutional changes that promote gender equality, fair career opportunities, mentoring, appropriate workplace facilities, effective protection from discrimination and harassment, and psychosocial support. The participants’ experiences ultimately position women seafarers as professionals and role models capable of contributing to a more inclusive maritime industry.

Gender Equality, Institutional Inclusion, Maritime Industry

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