The role of spanish women in the merchant marine in XXI century

Resumen

On an international level only between 1 and 2 % of the seafarers are women, and only 7 % of them are employed in command positions, opposite to 42 % of men who realize this type of management jobs. In Spain, in spite of the fact that women have access to maritime studies for just three decades, their participation in the students group exceeds 20 %, clearly over the international average. Unfortunately nowadays women of maritime sector are in a position of disadvantage compared to men of this sector in relation to the access to the labor market. Also they have to confront more unfavorable situations in the performance and maintenance of their jobs on board due to the traditionally masculine attribution of this type of activity. Under these circumstances the promotion of these women up to command positions on board is always slow and complicated. It may prevent a high percentage of them from reaching their initial professional goals. In the present article the motivations of women to choose a maritime career, their professional expectations, and the reasons why these women do not obtain the same level of labor success as their male coworkers are analyzed. Lastly we will propose some measures that could help to change this situation, which allow to improve the women's recruitment and retention to work on board, to rise their promotion possibilities and, in the end, to offer them an access to the labor market on equal terms.