“Women on board at spanish customs surveillance service”ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SITUATION OF WOMEN ON BOARD

Resumen

A lot of efforts are being made these days both at national and international level in order to promote the presence of women in the maritime sector. Although a lot of women have had the chance to become maritime professionals, their major challenge is the same it was years ago, that is to combine work and family, especially regarding children care. It might seem like a classic story, but the fact is, and we think it will continue being this way, regardless of their professional abilities and capacities, their educational backgrounds and the increasing awareness developed in the sector, that the labor conditions inherent to work at sea force them, either in the private or public sector, to leave their positions on board looking for work schedules compatible with family, no matter if, consciously or unconsciously, it had meant to be relegated to lower work responsibilities. Just to illustrate, we’ll refer the present situation regarding women acting as Skippers and Captains onboard the cutters of the Maritime Branch of Spanish Customs Surveillance Service, a public service under the Spanish Tax Agency. The main purpose of this public institution is to investigate, prosecute and restrain smuggling. In the last ten years, only 19 out of the 132 official who entered this body were women, who only represent 14 per cent of the workforce. If we add up the fact that this job is dangerous and has an exigent time schedule with nightly patrols at sea, it explains that in the existing 25 naval bases, only 13 of those women keep sailing these days, and within this number 4 of them have incorporated in the last two years, which means they’ve been performing their tasks for a relatively short period of time. All the above mentioned intend to reveal the fact that the main hindrance they have to face is not linked to the concepts of training or increasing awareness, but it’s determined by the very nature of being a woman and nothing can be done to solve this issue.