Barriers To Women'S Leadership in Maritime and the Ways To Overcome Them

Abstract

Maritime is a male-dominated sector and as in all male-dominated sectors, women working in maritime jobs face some problems deriving from not only the special nature of the jobs but also the hardships they face because of the bias against them in this sector. There are very few women leaders in the maritime due to these reasons and this fact deprives the sector, which is in need of a lot of qualified staff, of the positive contributions women can make. That's why some precautions should be taken to eliminate those barriers in order to enhance women's participation and leadership in the sector and give women the place they have already deserved. In this paper, data about problems related to women's leadership are gathered by a survey and some suggestions to overcome these are discussed in a workshop by women in maritime. At the end of the study, it was decided that two methods could work better than others: Providing networking and mentoring opportunities to the women in maritime and authentic leadership of women in maritime. The ultimate goal of the study is to create part of a strategy to be applied in maritime to help women reveal the leadership traits they already have, excel in their jobs and reach top positions. Following studies can be carried out to complete the strategy and to take it further.