CASE 5: The image of an olive-skinned man or a barako who has a girl in every port usually comes to mind when one mentions the word seafarer. The stereotype stems from the dominance of men in the maritime industry since the country started its massive labor export in the 1970s.

This masculine and macho image of Filipino seamen may soon gradually fade as more women choose to work on board international vessels, mostly on passenger cruise.

But empowering these women at sea is altogether another story. Most of them occupy lower-paying jobsas chambermaids, waitresses or other guest relationsunlike their male counterparts, a consequence of gender stereotyping.

The Rise of Pinay Seafarers Only 225 out of the 230,000 Filipino seafarers registered from 1983 to 1990 were women, a study by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2000 showed.

By 2006, the number of Filipino women seafarers deployed had risen astronomically to 6,436, according to statistics from the Philippine Overseas and Employment Administration (POEA) Databank and Network Division. Thats almost 29 times the number recorded by the IMO.

Their ranks continue to swellto 8,114 in 2009 and 9,002 in 2010.

Today, women seafarers account for 2 percent of the total number of sea-based workers deployed from 2006 to 2010. The proportion, albeit small, is significant: It was less than 1 percent in the 1980s and 1990s.

Women shied away from shipboard employment decades ago because of fixations that seafaring is an exclusive male preserve and the prevailing cultural ideology that women should stay at home, the IMO study said.

There may also be cultural resistance to women working outside the home, IMOs Pamela Tansey said in her 2000 study.

But the principal objections to employing women at sea appear to center around the lack of adequate separate facilities for women on board and stringent physical requirements, she said.

Women who work as chamber maids, waitresses and massage therapists have to pass the same Basic Safety Training like any other seafarer, before they can get their Seamans Identification Record Book (SIRB) or commonly known as Seamans book. The most difficult part of the safety training are diving on a pool from 20 feet high and surviving a simulated fire situation.

Global Demand for Women Seafarers Filipino women began setting aside these reservations in the past decade owing in part to the growing popularity of passenger cruise and the lack of economic opportunities in the country. Many of them have been enticed by the promises of cruise ship jobs as a chance to see the world.

Federico S. Concepcion, general manager for Cruise and Manning Services of NYK-Fil Ship Management, recalled in an interview years ago how the demand for cruise tourism surged in the 1990s after the box office hit Titanic was released. This, in turn, led to the rise in the demand for Filipino women seafarers to work on cruise ships, he said.

Jeremy Cajiuat, project development officer of the International Seafarers Action Center (ISAC) Philippines Foundation, said, With the further rise of the cruise business and the influx of more and more ships into the business, there will likewise be a rise in employment onboard these ships for women.

The 2015 Cruise Industry Outlook released by the Cruise Lines International Association in February shows the number of cruise ship passengers rising 24 percent from 17.8 million in 2009 to 22.1 million in 2014. Cruise operators expect the number of passengers this year to reach 23 million, up 4 percent from last years figures.

The CLIA also reported that its members are investing $25.65 billion to build 55 new ships between 2015 and 2020. The commissioning of new ships means more jobs will be generated for seafarers within the next five years.

A cruise ship has a crew of from 800 to 1,500. There are 400,000 jobs available on cruise ships, and total wages reached $6 billion last year, according to the Cruise Ship Jobs Network.

Gender Mainstreaming Retired Vice Admiral Eduardo Ma. R. Santos, president of the Bataan-based Maritime Academy of the Asia and the Pacific (MAAP), also traced the rising number of Filipino female seafarers to calls for greater womens participation in various sectors, including the maritime sector.

The movement for greater participation of women in society has really inspired more women to become seafarers, he said.

The integration of women into the male-dominated seafaring industry is often attributed to the calls for gender mainstreaming by the United Nations in the 1980s after the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was ratified.

In support of the UN agenda on women, the IMO launched the Women in Development (WID) program in 1988 to boost the number of women in the maritime sector and improve womens access to maritime training and technology.

Womens Jobs But the commercial value of women and gender stereotypes have also been driving the growth of female seafarers.

Filipino women waitresses are perceived to be more caring, especially with the children and senior passengers (on cruise ships), Concepcion said.

Cajiuat is more blunt. He said, (Filipino) women seafarers are being hired due to their docile nature: They are still considered the weak gender and are exploited more in terms of hours of work, excessive workload, less food consumption, and the extra attraction of beauty and charm to entice more guests.

So even as the number of Filipino women entering the maritime sector has leapt in recent years, women seafarers have not been empowered.

The jobs on a passenger liner can be divided into three categories: the deck, the engine and the hotel and services departments.

Based on statistics supplied by the POEA Databank and Network Division, officers only accounted between 0.4 and 1.8 percent of the total number of Filipino women seafarers, while ratings or non-officers accounted between 5 and 6.5 percent of the total number of women seafarers from 2006 to 2010.

The bulk of Filipino women seafarers work in the hotel and services department of passenger ships. Nine in 10 of them are chambermaids, waitresses, women kitchen crew, entertainers, cleaning crew, casino dealers, massage therapists, cashiers, guest relations officers, female security personnel, nurses and other medical personnel, and other office personnel.

They hold what are called womens jobs, or jobs considered extension of their reproductive duties, which are usually among the lowest paid in the ships hierarchy.

Cabin girls and massage therapists interviewed for this research say they receive a basic pay of US$50 per month. They augment their remittances through tips from customers and sales commission for products that they offer to passengers.

Assigning womens jobs to female seafarers is stereotyping, Cajiuat said.

Ironically, being assigned feminine jobs doesnt mean the women seafarers are spared masculine tasks.

The Filipino female seafarers also have lifting-and-carrying tasks and are trained for strenuous jobs such as firefighting and crowd control, Cajiuat said.

Outrage over Compulsory Pregnancy Tests for Women Seafarers A week before she was about to leave the country for her first job on a cruise liner, Mary Valdez (not her real name) received a text message from her crewing agency. She was instructed to return to the clinic where she had completed her medical examination three weeks earlier in order to have another pregnancy test.

Valdez, 26, was surprised. Why did she have to undergo the test again? She was single and had no sexual partner at the time.

When she asked for an explanation, the crewing staff told her: This is S.O.P. (standard operating procedure) in the cruise industry. Sumunod ka na lang kung gusto mo makaalis agad (Just obey if you want to leave right away).

Desperate to get the cruise job, Valdez agreed even when she was reluctant and felt very uncomfortable.

Why Two Pregnancy Tests Valdez is just one of the hundreds of Filipino women seafarers who have to undergo pregnancy tests twice before they can leave for shipboard employment. The first pregnancy test is conducted as part of the regular physical examination; the second is usually required two to three days before a woman leaves for a cruise job.

Women seafarers find this compulsory pregnancy test offensive and a violation of their rights as women. More than 9,000 women were deployed to passenger ships in 2010.

Bakit naman kami mga single required pa rin mag-pregnancy test? Para kasing sinasabi na kami we had sex while we are here (in the Philippines) kahit single kami (Why are they imposing a pregnancy test on single women like us. Its insinuating that we had sex while we are in the Philippines even if we are single), Valdez said.

A crewing manager who requested anonymity said compulsory pregnancy tests are intended to make sure that women are not pregnant when they work on board.

Just imagine if a crew member discovers that she is pregnant on her first month. Then that means the agency will have to shoulder her repatriation and immediately look for a replacement, he said.

Jeremy Cajiuat, project development officer of the International Seafarers Action Center (ISAC) Philippines Foundation, confirmed the compulsory pregnancy tests.

One vital explanation for the pregnancy test would be to establish a mindset of strictness in sexual activity, which sadly, is also very much an uncontrolled phenomenon with the crew onboard cruise ships, he said.

Cajiuat added, Unwanted pregnancies and pregnancy with someone else than her own husband is a difficult issue to occur onboard ships, and while being atrocious, the anti-pregnancy test is aimed at serving as a deterrent.

Discrimination in Employment Whether they are to ascertain that the female seafarer is not pregnant at the time of deployment or deter unwanted pregnancies aboard a vessel, pregnancy tests as a requirement for employment violate the Maternity Protection Convention 2000 or Convention No. 183 to the International Labour Organization.

Article 9 of the convention enjoins member countries to adopt appropriate measures to ensure that maternity does not constitute a source of discrimination in employment.

In other countries, women seafarers do not undergo pregnancy tests.

The ILO convention permits pregnancy test or a certification of pregnancy test only if the job is restricted for pregnant or nursing women under national laws or regulations or where there is a recognized or significant risk to the health of the woman and child.

The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), an international federation of trade unions that includes seafarers, said in its website: Pregnancy should never be treated as a disciplinary offence. Pregnancy testing before you are employed may violate International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 183.

Problem is, the Philippines is not a signatory to ILO Convention No. 183, which entered into force on Feb. 7, 2002. Only 29 countries have ratified the convention, including Albania, Austria, Cuba, Italy and the Netherlands.

Even so, the Philippines has the Magna Carta of Women, or Republic Act No. 9710, which mandates the abolition of all forms of discrimination against women.

The State condemns discrimination against women in all its forms and pursues by all appropriate means and without delay the policy of eliminating discrimination against women in keeping with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other international instruments consistent with Philippine law. The State shall accord women the rights, protection, and opportunities available to every member of society, Chapter 1, Section 2 of the law states.

The Shipboard Workplace Code of Conduct of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the worlds largest cruise industry trade association with representation in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, requires members to adopt a policy of industry-wide commitment to safety, security and fair treatment of crewmembers in the shipboard environment.

Although recruitment and employment of seafarers who serve on cruise vessels may be delegated to third parties, the CLIA code requires members to monitor the activities of these third parties to ensure they comply with obligations under international law.

Buck Passing VERA Files emailed CLIA to ask about the pregnancy tests and other issues. Elinore Boeke, CLIA public affairs director, replied, For specific questions, youll need to contact the individual cruise lines. CLIA, as a trade association, does not participate in hiring and compensation of crew.

VERA Files also emailed Royal Caribbean Cruises (Asia) Pte Ltd for comment. Most of the seafarers interviewed have worked onboard Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Lines.

The companys corporate communications manager for Singapore and Southeast Asia, Chin Ying Duan, said, My HQ advised that for such questions it is more appropriate for CLIA to answer them, as an industry. Please kindly approach CLIA for the inputs.

As long as there is no specific ban on pregnancy test as a requirement for employment, the practice in the cruise industry will be difficult to curb.

Questions 1. What is the summary of the case 2. Do you think pregnancy tests on women seafarers working on board cruise ships should be carried out and made compulsory by management? Why or why not? Be specific and justify your answers.

3. Do you support the statement made by Cajiuat: Unwanted pregnancies and pregnancy with someone else than her own husband is a difficult issue to occur onboard ships, and while being atrocious, the anti-pregnancy test is aimed at serving as a deterrent. Why or why not? In your answers, you must specify how this statement may be related to moral, organizational image, and safety issues. Be specific and justify your answers.