2-22-06, 10:10 am

'Shipping Out: The Story of America's Seafaring Women' is a comprehensive, spirited look at the women of today who sail the seas for a living. Made for public television, the video documentary opens with striking images of intrepid women on tanks and tugs, climbing on board container ships, piloting through dangerous waters, and yes, even cooking up a gourmet meal in a ship's galley.

Over the next 56 minutes, the viewer gets to know a dynamic, diverse group of women who have been drawn to the Merchant Marines, not just in the last 20 years since significant restrictions have been lifted on women's access to these jobs, but as far back as the late 1800s, when women disguised themselves as men to be able to 'ship out.'

The question of what drives these women becomes the central theme of the video. What inspires them to pursue the life of a captain on a container ship, piloting the Columbia River Bar, or restoring old tugboats off the San Francisco Bay?

As one female tug captain, Jeanne Pinto, puts it early on, 'It's really fun, pushing this huge ship around.' But another woman, Capt. Carol Curtiss tempers this with, 'The truth is, this is a hard job. It's not for every woman, it's not for every man.'

To meet these women is to encounter the stuff that determination and dreams are made of. More than anything, we learn how much they are dedicated to the work. Whether getting scarred from a boiler-room accident, or being away from loved ones for months at a time, what unites these women is an undeniable, infectious passion. The best part of the video is when they talk about what they love about the job, such as when engineer Mary Helen Smith mentions 'the sunsets, wind through the hair, being taken seriously for once*'

The documentary introduces women like Mary Frances Culnane, the first woman to graduate from King's Point, the Merchant Marine Academy.

Since 1974, women have been allowed into the academy, but very few make it. You have to be that much better, than a man, they tell you, and the training takes years. In fact, to make it all the way to pilot, a top job in the hierarchy of maritime work, the training is rigorous. To date, only three percent of the world's pilots are women.

Thanks to Anita Hill and Affirmative Action, as well as landmark cases on sexual harassment, women have made great strides in the maritime industry, but the day-to-day often remains the same, predictable struggle of gaining acceptance among the mostly male crew. The video seems to get repetitive at times with endless stories of having to slog through and deflect the prevailing pejorative, sexist attitudes on board and just get on with the job at hand. But the refrain is not as frustratingly tiresome as the reality.

More fascinating is the overall question the video is asking about the relationship of women to the sea. While ships and the sea itself have traditionally signified a certain feminine aura over the centuries, the 'mythic power of women at sea became degraded, ' according to Barbara Sjoholm, author of 'Pirate Queen,' who is also interviewed in the documentary. From mermaids to sirens, the names of ships, storms and currents, the symbiotic, historical relationship between female imagery and the sea plays into present-day superstitions.

On some level, the subtext of 'Shipping Out' really is a direct engagement in the evolving nature and purpose of a woman's life, particularly her choice of profession. The profiles of seafaring women fly in the face of notions of gender and social constructs. It's as if getting off of land-based ideologies and 'shipping out' to sea, these women challenge both themselves and all of society.

Some of the women interviewed even talk about subjugating their femininity while out to sea. It's a telling dichotomy. On one level these women are drawn to the sea in order to escape the limitations and boundaries they've experienced on land, yet oftentimes come face-to-face with challenges of sexism and abuse, precisely because they are breaking new ground.

As First Mate Adena Kennedy puts it, 'I had to lose my femininity.' Or as Engineer Carol Curtiss says, 'Bringing femininity to these ships was not helping me in the business, and I don't see being feminine as a good trait on these ships. You're to be competent.' But as Capt. Anne Sanborn laments, recalling her early days on ships, 'The assumption was that you were incompetent by the mere fact of your gender.'

As more women have entered the maritime industry, there have been slow strides towards acceptance and change-and opportunity for advancement. 'You can start as a pot washer and make it all the way to Captain,' a room attendant on a cruise liner attests.

Yet that struggle to both embrace and redefine one's femininity, on one's own terms, seems to be a central concern for these women. This is where the documentary really takes off.

'It's as if they've tested themselves and proven something to themselves,' says the video's director, Maria Brooks. 'It was refreshing to meet them. I was awed by their daunting, their daring.'

Brooks has directed other films about the maritime industry, including 'The History of Merchant Marines in World War II' and a profile of an African American Captain, 'The Odyssey of Captain Healey,' but in all her work she never came across stories of women working at sea. So she started to dig.

'The story of these women is like the story of many women in history, they're like this shadowy presence, with no names or identity,' she said.

The historical sections and dramatic reenactments in the documentary, while somewhat stylistically jarring, help to put a face to those absent women, and provide a context out of which the contemporary stories can then emerge. Who were the real women behind the romanticized, caricatures like 'Tugboat Annie,' or the lesser-known 'pirate women,' remarkable women who defied tradition and intransigent sex-roles to launch the rich legacy of strong women commanding ships today?

While these images of early seafaring women are certainly important, the contemporary stories are much more engaging and inspiring. One story that resonates is single-mom Melissa Parker, who recently had to give up her beloved tugboat business after she had a baby. But she manages to find a real estate job that supports her love of restoring old tugboats, and is able to spend quality time with both her daughter and the boats. Captain Deborah Dempsey may not have a traditional family, in the sense of a husband and children, but she's proud of what she sees as an ancient family, the family that is the merchant marines, and ultimately, the sea itself.

The absence of family and the presence of the sea is a recurrent theme. For a lot of the women interviewed, finding the right partner is difficult, not just because they are gone for so long, but because they are used to being in charge.

'You want to be in command at home, as well,' one of them remarks.

'These boats are my significant other,' Melissa laughs, almost wistfully.

One thing is for sure, after viewing this documentary, you do not feel like any of these women have any regrets. It's refreshing to witness the power, passion and sheer joy they share, quite candidly, about their work and lives. And the work itself is so fascinating, so invigorating.

These are women who get a kick out of taking apart and putting back together complex engines, commanding huge vessels, piloting through dark waters. In the footage of them throwing out a line in a snowstorm, climbing up the ladder of a container ship at night, or rigging a sail a hundred feet up in the air, you can actually feel their pride.

There is a poignant shot of Melissa Parker's baby, Mary Rose, reaching out to touch the steering apparatus of one of her tugboats. You almost feel like cheering out loud, for all the women who have come before, and all those who will come after, following their hearts*out to sea.

All told, 'Shipping Out' is an invaluable teaching tool for young people, especially young women. A 24-page study guide designed as a companion piece to help teachers explore subjects raised in the documentary is also available.

As Chief Engineer Lidia Pollard puts it, 'Do we want to comply with the rest of the world, and play by the rules of the rest of the world, or do we want to be unique. We can make a stand for what we are*I'm making a stand for who I am, which is not much, but hey, I'm doing it.'



--This review originally appeared in the ILWU's newspaper, The Dispatcher. 'Shipping Out' is available on DVD for $24.95 plus $4.00 mailing. Make checks payable to: Waterfront Soundings Productions / 3252 Kempton Avenue / Oakland, CA 94611. The accompanying study guide is available for $5.00 or can be downloaded for free at http://www.shippingoutvideo.com.

Independent filmmaker and activist, Amie Williams has recently finished the film 'Eye of the Storm' on the 2002 ILWU longshore lockout and contract negotiations and a film for PBS about American Apparel, titled 'No Sweat' You can see more about her work at http://www.balmaidenfilms.com