Ethnographic and lived experience of cold-water immersion: The compromised survival of women at sea due to ill-fitting immersion suits

Abstract

Seafarer industries are male-dominated. There are efforts to recruit more women into marine industries. Recognizing the value of immersion suits in preservation of life in the event of abandoning ship, in the current article, we offer an interpretation of personal safety that should be a priority for all women seafarers, employers, and mariner-related organizations; that of personal safety operationalized as the improving the probability of survival. Specifically, we draw on our own ethnographic and lived experiences as women in training for ship abandonment in immersion suits and reflect on the emotional and physical labour tied to knowing the suit does not fit correctly. Our purpose is to reflectively provide empirical support for the reality that immersion suits do not fit all women, perhaps not even the majority, and that this means women would be the first to die if they were to abandon ship. Thus, we query, how can women enter the seafarer professions if the equipment does not fit? As authors, our probability for survival would be severely compromised if we ever had to abandon ship at sea in even remotely cold waters. Thus, we provide empirical support for the redesign of immersion suits.