Violence Against Women At Sea
It might seem that, especially after #MeToo, we are always going through observances aimed at remembrance, awareness or celebration of women in one shape or another. On November 25th, it’ll be the turn for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Given the fact that the sex ratio for the entire world population is approximately even (101 males to 100 females), why is it that we need to pay so much more attention to the plights of being a woman on this planet, than those of men?
We had a conversation with Master Mariner and Merchant Navy Medal awardee Ann Pletschke to learn more about why this day is still very important and about the particular challenges that women face when they choose a career at sea. What follows are Ann’s words:
One more day for women, really?
“We need this day because violence against women is still very much an issue. I really appreciate that some people may roll their eyes at this and think ‘another day for women’ but the fact that we’ve made such progress in so many parts of the world to do with equality and women’s rights shouldn’t make us assume that violence against women and girls is not a problem anymore.
You only have to look at the statistics. Everyone will know women who have suffered violence against them as girls before they’re even 18. Everyone will know women who have had violence in the workplace or in the home. We all know women who, sadly, have had violence against them, so that is why this day is important”.
What do we mean when we say ‘violence’?
“You have the obvious violence when people are punched in the face and you see bruises and broken bones and even women losing their lives. But then you have sort of the intrinsic violence that can comes from emotional and mental abuse. You can have coercion, discrimination, harassment and jokes that are just not funny; all of which make women feel unsafe.
It invariably starts from a much, much lower level and builds up. In the same way that drug use doesn’t often start by somebody taking heroin. It will start off at a lower level and rise up. It’s the same with violence, so ignoring non-physical violence until it becomes life-threatening cannot be the answer.”
Violence against women at sea
“There are many countries in the world where women can’t go to sea yet because they’re not allowed to work on a ship or it’s not seen as a job for a woman. There are therefore many men out there that have never sailed with a woman and have been at sea for decades. So it can be a shock if you’ve never sailed with a woman and suddenly a woman has come onboard the ship.
This is where the locker room jokes come in and it can create a culture onboard where inappropriate behaviour is almost right and becomes normalised. I always think that that can cause some people to be violent against women when they otherwise wouldn’t be because this culture builds up, especially when you consider that women are so often a minority on board a ship.
And unfortunately, if you’re a woman on a ship, you’re there to do a job and you don’t want your career threatened. You don’t want to be seen as is the problem. You don’t want to be disembarked from the ship, so there could be many reasons why a woman will not speak about violence against her and then be trapped inside what she is going through.”
I’m a seafarer. What can I do, at sea and at home?
“One would be to speak about it. Number two, learn about it.
I’m a woman. I’ve had violence against me on several occasions but I realised a few years ago that I didn’t know much about it. I realised that if I was the Captain of a ship and I had a woman come to me saying that she had had violence against her, I wouldn’t know how to properly deal with it. So I read up about it. There’s an awful lot of good information out there if you look.
The United Nations Women Training Center have some really excellent online courses for free in different languages about violence against women and girls, and gender equality, and so many good subjects about how to be inclusive and understand how to prevent violence in general against women, but also how to act. I think it’s also important to learn how to be an ally and an active bystander.
I think seafarers are generally very proud of our profession. Imagine if we could set the bar to say that our industry does not have a violence problem, even though we have minorities on board, even though we’re working in difficult conditions. That’s the dream.”
Ann Pletschke, Master Mariner
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women will mark the launch of the UNiTE campaign (Nov 25- Dec 10) — an initiative of 16 days of activism concluding on the day that commemorates the International Human Rights Day (10 December). You can support the campaign in many ways, from sharing information on social media, to participating in events.