Flush with cash from record profits, shipping lines have made big promises to boost the number of women in their ranks, in some cases to as much as 50 per cent of new recruits.

Convincing women to join a career that involves long, unpredictable stretches away from home in a mostly male, sometimes inhospitable ships has always been a challenge.

While much of the world hunkered down at home and panic ordered sought-after goods, ship crews worked long past expired contracts to keep global trade moving and feed the unprecedented demand.

Some seafarers even were stranded for months as travel restrictions prevented them from getting home.

"It was hard before Covid to attract people," said Elpi Petraki, the newly appointed president of the Women's International Shipping & Trading Association, or Wista. "Now it's even harder."

Big, publicly traded carriers like Hapag-Lloyd and Denmark's AP Moller-Maersk A/S have plenty of reasons for wanting to hire more women.

Meanwhile, multiple studies have shown sexual harassment and gender discrimination toward women is likely to be more prevalent in male-dominated workplaces.

Last week, a US unit of Maersk said it settled a sexual assault lawsuit. Maersk is now assigning its female employees to ships in groups of three to four, so no woman is alone at sea.

Stephen Cotton, the general secretary of the London-based International Transport Workers' Federation, said that increasing gender parity in shipping is a "massive challenge" given the culture change that's necessary, especially for international crews who usually work under contracts.

"The whole of the supply chain needs to look at itself to become a more inclusive culture for women," said Mr Cotton.

He said shipping's transition to more digital operations and cleaner-burning fuels in coming years provides an opportunity to change the industry's macho image and create conditions that might attract more women.

Seafarers usually enter the industry one of two ways: either starting as a deckhand and working their way up the ranks, or through vocational study programmes that offer a more academic route to a life on the ocean. Either way, it can be backbreaking work at times.

Higher up the chain aspects of the job becomes more academic, especially as engines, navigation systems and other ship functions become more technologically advanced.

The pay scale on container ships varies widely depending on seniority. An entry-level deckhand might make abou US$6,000 a year, while some captains earn salaries of $120,000 or more.

Despite the challenges, big shipping companies are setting themselves tough goals around gender equity. In May, Maersk announced the first cadet programme for women in India, a country that accounts for about 10 per cent of all seafarers of which just 0.5 per cent are women. Its aim is to boost the share of female cadets to 50 per cent by 2027, from a baseline of 7.6 per cent last year.

French container line CMA CGM, meanwhile, wants women to be earning 30 per cent of its top 200 salaries by 2025. In a report last year, the company found that women held a third of management positions, but only 12 per cent of the top 100 paying jobs.