Review article
An Examination of the Pivotal Role of Female Seafarers and the Underlying Challanges
Adeola Oluwatoyin Osundiran
orcid.org/0000-0002-9883-1528
; University of South Africa, Department of Sustainable Livelihoods, Graduate School of Business Leadership, Cnr Janadel and Alexandra Avenues Midrand, 1686 Gauteng, South Africa
*
Makgopa Tshehla
orcid.org/0000-0002-3536-2517
; University of South Africa, Department of Sustainable Livelihoods, Graduate School of Business Leadership, Cnr Janadel and Alexandra Avenues Midrand, 1686 Gauteng, South Africa
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Female seafarers are a set of women that work inside the vessel or any type of maritime transport
under fluctuating weather conditions over a period of time with the sole aim of ensuring a seamless
transportation of oil, chemicals, containers,passengers, cargoes and other types of freight from origin
to destination. Even though the safety and security of women at sea is not guaranteed, it has not in any
way dissuaded these calibre of women from pursuing this career path. This job description is quite
rigourous and this study categorises the work of the female seafarer into operational, navigational,
health safety, communication and leadership duties. Any interruption in any of these duties will have
severe financial implications. The pivotal role of female seafarers is to boost international trade.
Hence both female and male seafarers are drivers of international trade. There are several reasons
why a woman will embrace this job in spite of the inherent challenges as this study indicates. One
of the several reasons that the respondents indicated was to increase the number of female seafarer
from 1.2%. The focus of this research is to examine the pivotal role of women at sea to the global
economy and the underlying challenges. A structured questionnaire is developed and sent to a set of
50 female seafarer. Hence, this research contributes to the body of knowledge on the role of women
at sea, and what can be done to motivate them to continue with this herculean tasks of contributing
to the global economy
Keywords
female seafarers, maritime transport, global, economy, pivotal
Hrčak ID:
317138
URI
Publication date:
16.5.2024.
Visits: 50 *