“If You Can’t Handle It, You Don’t Belong Here”: Gender, Meritocracy, and Women Seafarers
SOCIAL POLITICS, cilt.33, sa.3, ss.1-23, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 33 Sayı: 3
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1093/sp/jxag058
- Dergi Adı: SOCIAL POLITICS
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Sociology Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), IBZ Online, Periodicals Index Online, American History and Life, Educational research abstracts (ERA), Gender Studies Database, Historical Abstracts, Index Islamicus, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Political Science Abstract (IPSA)
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-23
- Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Despite international gender equality commitments, women constitute approximately 2 percent of the global maritime workforce. This article examines how the meritocracy system functions as a legitimizing myth in maritime labor markets and operates inextricably linked to dominant masculine norms. Drawing on interviews with male maritime professionals and corporate statements from Turkish shipping companies, it uses critical discourse analysis to demonstrate how meritocratic language justifies exclusion, normalizes harassment, and individualizes structural inequalities. Integrating intersectionality and dominant masculinity, the analysis reveals how women seafarers are positioned differently according to rank, ship type, and career trajectory, and how they challenge, negotiate, and sometimes internalize dominant norms.