WHY are so few seafarers ‘shefarers’?

That’s the question researchers at Southampton Solent University will be asking after receiving £70,000 funding to find out why there are not more women following a career at sea.

Only two per cent of the world’s seafarers are female and of these women 94 per cent work either on cruise ships or passenger ferries.

The research is funded by the ITF Seafarers’ Trust whose head, Kimberly Karlshoej, said: “With only a tiny percentage of the seagoing workforce made up of women, identifying and properly exploring these factors is urgently needed..”

Daily Echo: Eastern Docks, SouthamptonPart of Southampton docks.

The research project led by Southampton Solent in collaboration with the University of Greenwich, China Maritime Centre, aims to examine the working conditions aboard the world’s ships many of which have multi-cultural crews.