Manning the waves: Masculinity shift amongst Filipino seafarers in the age of precarity

Abstract

This article looks at the intersection between Filipino seafarers' performance of masculinity shift onboard and the precarity that attends their work at sea. Reflecting on data gathered from four cargo ship voyages, and interviews with Filipino seafarers in the Philippines, the article proposes that Filipino seafarers' rendition and cultivation of hegemonic masculinity ashore is set aside at sea as a way to mitigate both perceived and experienced employment precarity. By wilfully performing a multiplicity of situationally specific masculinities, Filipino seafarers perforce to hold on to their employment at sea to preserve their hegemonic masculinity ashore. The performance of masculinity shift at sea by Filipino seafarers manifests their shifting gender strategies in the context of economic and cultural structures and how the experiencing of one form of masculinity ashore is predicated on the execution of different manifestations of masculinity at sea. This masculinity shift takes place in the context of the fast changing crewing preferences of ship owners, robust implementation of local laws pertaining to seafarer rights and privileges, and the power of supranational bodies to shape domestic maritime labor policies.