‘Can’t we participate in that?’ Women Employed at the Holland-America Line, 1951-1971

This thesis is about ‘women employed at ships of the Holland-America Line (HAL) between 1951-1971’. The HAL stopped with passenger lining in 1971, and the twenty years before that marked a period of broadening of entertainment, and thus job opportunities on board. Furthermore, this period was marked by female emancipation in Dutch society. The relevance of this topic is the lack of discussion of women’s efforts in (maritime) history writing overall. The research question is: Which factors determined the social position of women who were employed at the Holland-America Line between 1951 and 1971? In which one’s social position is determined through power, resources, and hierarchy. This question is researched through the archival method, with primary sources such as enrolment books from the Rotterdam City Archive, together with Dutch newspaper articles, and objects from the Maritime Museum Rotterdam. The main findings are that women made less wage than men. Even if they had the same job or tasks on board. They were usually young, worked long days, and chose a career on board motivated by a search for adventure, needing money, or to accompany a relative. Later, women were allowed to be admitted into seafaring schools, and the HAL started to allow women in steerswomen positions as the first Dutch shipping company, leading to more opportunities to work in jobs that were earlier only destined for men. The reached conclusion is that wage, motivations, education, age, marital status, and the content of the work are factors that determined the social position of women employed at the HAL between 1951 and 1971. This thesis is accompanied with an exhibition plan that is written for the Maritime Museum Rotterdam. This exhibition plan is focused on ‘Women employed in passenger shipping from 1946 until 1971’. The difference in demarcation is to cover the whole afterwar period, until passenger shipping became less popular, and to show a greater broadening of the developments in jobs for women, that matches the objects of the museum.