Working the Waters

In all blue collar occupations there has always been discrimination towards women.  Sexism, in the workplace has always made it difficult for females to achieve in specific work fields. Above and beyond the physical duties and sexist discrimination on board a working vessel, due to the specificity of commercial fishing the most difficult thing women have to have to deal with on a boat is the sexual tension among their fellow fishermen. In the book The Entangling Net by Leslie Leyland Fields, she sheds light onto the stories of the women who have had to endure situations that would make most women less than comfortable, and it shows how these women are strong enough to overcome these situations.

            As a woman working on land as a blue collar worker there is most definitely sexual references and requests that go on that would make most women uncomfortable, that just comes with the nature of working in an occupation that is made up with the majority of men. The main difference between a land working environment and a sea working environment is not only is a woman constantly with there fellow fishermen all day long, but she has to sleep in the same room as them, eat at the same table as them, dress and undress in front of them, use the same head and shower as them. Sometimes a commercial fisherwoman has to do this for months on end. Also unlike most land operated blue collar jobs, the men can go home to there wives, and or girlfriends for some sexual healing, where as at sea they may be away from any female contact for months on end; that does not justify their actions, but it does give explanation to their situation. Before even boarding a boat, men would yell obscene sexual comments at women, “I don’t know how old I was – early twenties – and nothing but this continuous sizing me up and whistles and would I do this and… You have to have nerves of steel to go through it, and I’d just take a breath after each time. They’d say, “Yeah, you can come on if you’ll - .” (Fields, 55) It’s hard to understand how someone could even go out in a boat for months on end when from the first moment the step foot on the dock they have a man treating them like a sexual object. But to overcome obstacles such as these for anyone, man or woman can give you a sense of self power just knowing that you are strong enough to work past it.

            One thing about the sexual discrimination that is hard for woman in the commercial fishing industry that you wouldn’t find in most other industries is discrimination from the wives of the other fishermen, and sometimes the captains. The jealousy created by the wives of the men would sometimes keep women from getting a job on a boat, even if the captain was willing to hire them. “When I would walk the docks looking for salmon jobs, I’d get things like, “Yeah, I’d like to hire you, but you know how it is.” The skipper means his wife wouldn’t let him. I remember a bunch of guys once saying, “Yeah, we need someone but not you! Ha! Ha!” Id just leave saying to them, “Your loss!” “My loss too,” I’d say under my breath.” (Fields, 61) So sometimes the issues presented to women are created by women. It is understandable why the wives would feel this way, but at the same time their jealousy makes it difficult for a fellow woman.

            Women in general have always had difficult time earning their place in this world. Its unjust and its horrible, there is no denying that, but it is those hurdles that they have had to overcome that puts them above the rest of the people that just had it given to them; and there is so much pride to be taken from that.