Sailing into rough seas: Taiwan's women seafarers' career development struggle

SynopsisThe shipping industry is traditionally considered an exclusively male domain. However, beginning in 1998, Taiwanese women started to serve as training ship officers on container ships, with approximately 60 female ship officers having worked on merchant ships to date. This study examines qualitatively the career development situation of Taiwanese women seafarers, using Schneider's (1987) attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) framework and organizational socialization. The study shows that, whereas the stereotype that women are not suited for seafaring remains prevalent in the Taiwan shipping industry, women seafarers are as passionate and committed to their careers as their male counterparts. The ASA theory predicts that Taiwan's women seafarers still face stormy seas, and that the performance of these few active women seafarers will have an effect on the career development of their successors.