You might picture long months away from home, heavy technical machinery, and a workforce consisting almost entirely of men when you think about life aboard a cargo vessel or an oil tanker. For decades, that picture was accurate. However, things are changing across the oceans. A major shift is happening right now, and more women are stepping onto the deck and into the engine room than ever before.
India supplies more than 5 lakh seafarers, roughly 12% of the global workforce. Women make up less than 2% of India’s seafarer count. Their share globally is even lower. But there are gains. Indian women seafarers’ count has jumped by 340%, from 1,599 in 2021 to 7,033, thanks to a combination of govt and industry initiatives.
This growth is not just a simple stat on paper. It represents a real change in how ships are run, how training is delivered, and how the maritime industry views its workforce.
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The Reality of Life at Sea
Sailing across open waters brings unpredictable situations. You face high stress, unpredictable weather, and geopolitical risks.
Consider the experience of twenty-four-year-old Hifa Salim. She works aboard the LPG tanker, BW Kizoku. They call her “Paanch Saab” aboard the ship. Hindi for “Fifth Sir”, it is a respectful nickname usually reserved for a young male engineer. Hifa Salim doesn’t mind it.
In March this year, she was sailing close to one of the world’s most volatile waterways when a company message instructed them to drift outside the Strait of Hormuz, near Fujairah. Hours later, Salim watched three missiles streak across the sky.
“It was a matter of about 15 hours; we’d have been trapped inside (Hormuz Strait),” recalls Salim, the ship’s youngest engineering officer.
Her hands shook as she entered the engine room. Frightened, she decided she would quit once the voyage ended. Then she heard the steady rhythm of the main engine.
“Like a heartbeat… I realised the ship is alive.”
She made herself a cup of tea and sat with the second engineer, who quietly told her, “Don’t worry. I am here with you.” Before long, she found herself saying the same thing back – to the ship.
Salim wrote about this experience in her award-winning account, ‘The Morning I Chose the Heartbeat Over the Fear’, which was published online. Her story puts the spotlight on a select set increasingly taking to the seas: women sailors.
Early Pioneers Who Shaped the Path
The journey to this 340% increase started decades ago with women who entered the field when facilities and mindsets were completely unprepared for them.
In 1995, barely a year after India opened merchant navy to women, Sonali Banerjee walked into the Marine Engineering Research Institute in Kolkata, the only woman in a college of 500. Coming of age during the second wave of feminism, Banerjee says she “didn’t want a desk job”.
“I wanted to do my bit to change the conventional narrative,” she says. “My parents were supportive, but worried about me living in a hostel and spending months at sea.”
Her college was unprepared for women students. There was neither a separate hostel room nor a toilet for girls. A flat in the officers’ quarters became her makeshift home for the next four years.
“I had to participate in all activities like physical training, marine workshop, and external port trust workshops that involved ship visits. From morning to evening, I had to interact with boys all around, including sharing their mess room for meals,” she says. “That became a crucial skill later while managing all-male teams.”
Unaccustomed to studying alongside women, some of her batchmates struggled with behaving appropriately.
“I took those things in my stride. They made me mentally tough,” says Banerjee, who later discovered that the challenges onboard were more mental than physical. “You have to be tenacious, diligent and so good at your job that there is no room for doubt.”
Banerjee went on to become India’s first woman marine engineer, the first woman to head a ship’s engine room and the country’s first certified woman chief engineer. Later, she served as the principal surveyor at the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS). Today, she steers two shipping firms.
“I didn’t inherit my business from a father or a brother,” she says.
Other key historical figures cleared the way as well:
- Sumati Morarji: Known as the ‘First Lady of Indian Shipping’, the chairperson of Scindia Steam Navigation Company oversaw thousands of employees and a fleet that eventually grew to more than 40 ships. She became the first woman in the world to head a national shipowners’ association, serving four terms as its president.
- Monika Joshi: She became India’s first woman merchant navy deck officer in the 1990s. “I never thought about making history. I simply wanted to prove this wasn’t a job that only men could do,” says the nautical science graduate of TS Chanakya. She mentions that the main challenge wasn’t navigating ships: “It was hard for people to take orders from a 20-year-old lady.” She learnt to begin every instruction by explaining why.
- The International Women Seafarers’ Foundation Founders: Suneetibala (India’s first woman sailing chief engineer and marine field surveyor), Capt. Radhika Menon (the first woman globally to receive the IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea), and Sharvani Mishra (the first woman engineer to sail on an Indian-flagged ship) created the foundation to support young women entering the sector.
Recommended Read: Girls in Merchant Navy: Career Paths, Courses, Eligibility, Fees & Top Colleges
Changing Systems and Industry Initiatives
The industry is working to remove structural barriers. Globally, organisations are replacing the term “seamen” with the gender-neutral “seafarer”, or “sailor”. In India, the shift came much earlier. The trade union founded in 1926 as the National Union of Seamen of India adopted its present name – the National Union of Seafarers of India – in the 1950s after welcoming its first woman member, who was a nurse.
Government policies and private shipping companies are actively pushing for higher numbers:
- Government Goals: Launched in 2025, the ‘Sagar Mein Samman’ initiative aims to raise women’s participation in technical maritime roles to 12% by 2030.
- Maersk: The number of Indian women seafarers at Maersk has gone from 41 in 2021 to more than 500 in 2025.
- Synergy Marine Group: Women now account for 191 seafarers, including 97 cadets.
- Educational Growth: Malini Shankar, the former DG of Shipping and vice-chancellor of Indian Maritime University, notes that the number of women students at the university has risen from just 12 in 2014 to more than 200 today.
What the New Generation Faces
When you join a ship today, physical demands are secondary to system management and operational competence. Engine cadet Anushka Rudola grew up in Uttarakhand, hundreds of kilometres from the sea. During one of her first voyages, she developed high fever while the vessel was far from land. There was no possibility of going home.
“It made me mentally stronger,” she says. “At sea, you learn to solve problems with the people and resources around you.”
To make these voyages safer and more sustainable, maritime firms are updating their practices:
- Addressing Myths: Capt Arvind Shankar, recruitment and cadet manager, Marine People Asia, A P Moller-Maersk, notes that “The most persistent misconception is that seafaring is physically unsuited to women, even though a modern ship runs on competence, certification and systems rather than strength.” He adds that another myth is “the belief that a career at sea and family life cannot coexist.”
- Pairing Women Onboard: Synergy and Maersk try to ensure women do not sail alone to prevent isolation.
- Redesigned Gear: Synergy redesigned its personal protective equipment after women reported that standard PPE did not fit properly.
- Upgraded Infrastructure: Maersk built an exclusive girls’ hostel with AMET University, offered full scholarships, and introduced gender sensitisation into maritime training curricula.
The Road Ahead
The real measure of success relies on long-term retention. Maneesh Pradhan, Synergy’s MD and global head of crewing, points out:
“Getting a woman to sea was the first task. Making it possible for her to stay through the seasons of her life, including motherhood, is the one that will truly show whether we have succeeded.”
Around 20 former women seafarers now work in shore-based roles across Synergy’s operations. As Pradhan notes, “A career at sea does not end at the gangway. Women who have sailed bring operational credibility to shore roles that cannot be taught in a classroom.”
With rising support, better safety measures, and shifting perceptions, you will see even more women directing ships, managing engine rooms, and leading maritime businesses in the years ahead.
Recommended Read: Career Options for Women in Merchant Navy
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How much has the number of Indian women in the merchant navy grown?
The number of Indian women seafarers jumped by 340%, rising from 1,599 in 2021 to 7,033. This growth is driven by new government initiatives and active support from major shipping companies.
2. Are modern cargo ships physically too demanding for women?
No, modern ships rely heavily on technical systems, safety certifications, and specialized skills rather than pure physical strength. With updated equipment and proper training, women handle onboard operational roles just as effectively as men.
3. What is being done to make women feel safer and less isolated at sea?
Shipping companies now try to place at least two women on the same vessel so no one sails alone. They have also introduced properly fitted safety gear, strict anti-harassment reporting systems, and female-only hostels during training.
4. Can women continue their maritime careers after having a family?
Yes, many women transition into shore-based operations, management, or safety inspection roles later in their careers. Their practical sailing experience gives them strong credibility to lead onshore shipping operations.
