Against the Current: Lessons We Wish We Had Known as Women in Marine Science

Rebecca J. Shellock, Cheryl Joy Fernandez-Abila, Khaira Ismail and Randika Jayasinghe
Additional contact information
Rebecca J. Shellock: Centre for Sustainable Development Reform, University of New South Wales – Sydney, Australia
Cheryl Joy Fernandez-Abila: Centre for Sustainable Development Reform, University of New South Wales – Sydney, Australia
Khaira Ismail: Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia / Blue Economy Advancement Centre, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia
Randika Jayasinghe: Centre for Sustainable Development Reform, University of New South Wales – Sydney, Australia

Ocean and Society, 2026, vol. 3

Abstract: Marine science has not been designed to support everyone equally. Women are under two-fifths of ocean science researchers globally and a far smaller share of senior leaders. The barriers are structural and well documented (including caring burdens and unrecognised service, biases embedded in publishing and funding, and unequal access to networks). These barriers are particularly challenging for women with multiple disadvantaged or minoritised statuses (e.g., ethnic minorities and leaders in the global majority). Yet women continue to build careers, lead, and reshape the field within and despite these systems and, their strategies are a valuable source of knowledge. That knowledge, however, has rarely been translated into actionable guidance for women early career researchers navigating these conditions, particularly those working from the global majority and working across disciplines and/or at science–policy interface. This reflective article addresses that gap. Each author documented the conditions that shaped their career, and we compared these accounts collectively to identify shared experiences across career stages, disciplines, and countries. Five domains emerged, and each was read against the published literature and framed as a lesson: (a) build the networks that carry your work forward, (b) working across fields is a strength worth growing, (c) caring for yourself keeps you in the field for the long term, (d) publishing is a skill best learned together, and (e) your voice belongs in the policy room. We synthesise these into a practical action agenda organised by actor and theme.

Keywords: early career researchers; early career ocean professional; equity; gender; inclusion; interdisciplinary; intersectionality; marine social science; science–policy; transdisciplinary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/oceanandsociety/article/view/12888 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:ocesoc:v3:y:2026:a:12888

DOI: 10.17645/oas.12888

Access Statistics for this article

Ocean and Society is currently edited by Fábio Vicente

More articles in Ocean and Society from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().