Left high and dry?

Abstract

Drawing on fieldwork conducted in India, this article explores the lives of women married to seafarers from Mumbai and Goa, charting the changes in attitudes, values and daily life that can be seen as resulting from their husbands’ occupations. Using their own words and accounts and working through their own grounded experiences and changed circumstances, the article describes how despite, and sometimes because of, the isolation imposed upon seafarers’ wives, many have developed an independence that is recognized and often celebrated by family members but is also regarded as unusual within their local contexts. Additionally, access to higher incomes allows many seafarers and their partners to make significant choices about their domestic living arrangements which are not available to others working in the local economy.