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ABSTRACT
The first Taiwan women seafarer appeared on a container ship as a training deck officer in 1998, but so far only a handful of Taiwan shipping companies are willing to provide female navigational students with on-board internship opportunities. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the career development of women seafarers in Taiwan. The author has adopted the qualitative research approach, conducted in-depth interviews with women seafarers and representatives of shipping companies, and sailed on an LPG carrier for 14 days to conduct on-site observations. This study discovers that, in the seesaw battle between occupational gender-equality awareness and the shipping market mechanism, the dominant power remains in the hands of employers who demonstrate gender bias towards women seafarers. A noteworthy finding in this study is that the political forces, which include the evolution of the special shipping relationship across the Taiwan Strait as well as the domestic regulations limiting the employment of foreign seafarers, have had a non-negligible positive impact on the seafaring career prospects of Taiwanese women.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jiunn-Liang Guo
Jiunn-Liang Guo is an associate professor at the Department of Merchant Shipping at National Taiwan Ocean University. He has worked on cargo ships for more than 5 years and has served as a chief mate. His research interests include maritime human resources, seafarers’ organizational behaviours and issues related to women seafarers.