integration of women in the shipping industry
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1Introduction
Human beings, irrespective of gender have always struggled for moving towards betterment of their living standard and as it is irrespective of gender, women contribute a major role in making this betterment and development a reality. In the modern age, the concept of women involved only in their domestic works has been diminished as they are equally participating in the industries and organizations. It can be observed that currently women are struggling more and more for empowering themselves in every field of life. This dissertation specifically focuses and puts light on the integration of women in the shipping industry. The shipping industry is a male dominated industry and in past there has been no perception that women can join this industry as well. However, with time women started integrating in to the shipping industry and have made their place and have found opportunities through which they can serve in the areas that they have expertise in. Since 1990s, a huge amount of women are getting employed in this industry. As it is mentioned in the above discussion that the shipping industry has always remained to be male dominated, yet, in last 25 years it has been observed that a huge amount of women have been recruited by the marine industry and organizations have been developed for supporting women in this industry. It is suggested that in the maritime or shipping industry, the focus should be made over the quality and not over the gender. Women should be encouraged to get in to this field of shipping and maritime as a diverse team can prove to be more creative and agile. More opportunities should be created for women by allowing them to enter in to the various areas of shipping industry. The paper will present a complete over view of the industry in light of the level of participation of women and try to single out the challenges that women face in pursuit of finding their fortune for development in this walk of life (Horck 2008).
1.2 Background Overview
Being a male dominated industry, it was considered that women cannot deal with this hard life of shipping whereas women in this field are found on the edge of having strong objectives. Women started working over the ships as stewards but Later on they were also appointed as the assistants or companions with the captains as they worked as the explorers as the number of women, their interest and experience grew to a satisfactory level. Apart from these jobs, women were not appointed on the jobs having major responsibilities and were never seen running and operating the ships as men never considered them capable of this job.
The year 1900 onwards was the time when steamships were getting more and more popular around the world which made it possible for women to be added in to the crew as the crew members on the aboard passenger ships. In those days, the major roles of women over the ships were to serve as a nurse, stewardesses and laundresses. Only very few examples were seen in which women were having good positions and jobs. Once there was a Scottish couple who used to sail regularly as the couple knew how to navigate and operate the ship and the husband was the head. But, after the death of the husband, the wife assumed the captainship as there was nobody else that she thought was capable enough as she herself was. Being a sailor herself, this lady established a nautical academy in Aberdeen to promote women in the industry.
Women also have made remarkable works in the shipping industry in the Second World War when Vitoria Drummond was awarded with the Order of the British Empire (OBE). This award was given over the brave performance of the lady engineer over the British Blue Funnel Line. Like Drummond, many other women also worked along with men on the ships as engineers at that time where some of them also served as the radio officers on the main deck. This shows that even at that time women were able to handle the jobs and operations at ships.
According to an estimate, during the Second World War, nearly 8000 women were working over the ocean going merchant vessels and 21,000 were working over the inland navigation vessels. Women have proved in past that if chances are provided they can serve at their best and this is why that after the year 1945, the emergence of women as the crew members was seen on the regular basis. The level of job was still limited to the stewardesses, cooks and radio officers but lately in 1960s women also started appearing as the officer cadets as well. The reason for this was that in Europe many of the young male candidates were dropped and as a result chances were given to women. Again from the mid of 1980s till the next 15 years, the shipping industry limited its recruitment as far as women are concerned. There were many reasons for ignoring women some of them being over capacity of the workforce, deteriorating and decreasing rates of the freights. Although, even at that time the European women were entering in to the field but overall the ratio was still declining. The ratio again improved in the late 1990s when the attention was again being made over women in this industry (Belcher 2003)
1.3 Shipping Industry and its Operations
The shipping industry can be defined as the most competitive service industry which is private in nature as it is not only important for all other industries related to trade but the over all economy as well as it provides job opportunities to all classes of labor and adds to the GDP. Shiping industry has many different segments to serve in for example industrial transportation services, tanker operations, tramp shipping and liner services etc. All of these segments whole significance as per the nature of service that they provide as each type of segment is a separate niche in which it is hard for other segments to intersect or overlap.
Special routes have been established in order to streamline the operations of the shiping industry across the world. Different types of ships are being used to perform these activities like vessels, cargo ships, container ships and tankers in which the major operations of the shipping industry are to carry the passengers and the goods and then transporting them to different places. Although, the facility of air travelling has reduced the amount of passengers who used to travel through the ships, still as the travel costs through ships and boats are much cheaper then air travel, thus the transportation sector of the industry is still earning their fortune in developing and third world countries. Still, the industry basically serves for carrying the goods in terms of volume from an aerial view as can easily cargo different types of goods like petroleum, mineral ores, lumber, food stuff etc. The practice of transferring the goods is increasing day by day making this industry an interactive one (Shipping industry 2010)
1.4 Research Objectives
The topic of the dissertation is broad enough and covering many aspects of a single domain. The paper is covering many research objectives as it is a manifold topic. Huge amount of data has been gathered and presented it in the literature review section in order to fulfill all the objectives. Following are the basic objectives of this dissertation which have been tried to be accomplished.
To find out the role of women in the industry of shipping.
To find out that what challenges women have to face in the shipping industry.
Finding out the nature of the shipping industry and the role of women in these segments.
Analyzing the participation of women in the shipping industry in order to find out that what the current scenario of the shipping industry is in this regard.
How can women be empowered in the industry of shipping
Discussion regarding the efforts of the organizations which are working for the betterment of women in the shipping industry.
Evaluating Performance of women in this male dominating industry.
Finding out the occupational segregation in the shipping industry.
Above are some of the basic objectives that are tried to be achieved by this dissertation. The dissertation is very important as it highlights the role and performance of women in the industry of shipping as women still face many challenges and problems due to the male dominance for which corrective measures have to be taken by the concerned and development authorities.
1.5 Rationale of the Study
The world today is moving ahead and the gender differences and discriminations are no longer of any importance. Women are supposed to work in every field of life and are not more limited to the domestic chores. So for this reason, it is necessary to discuss the integration of women in the shipping industry. In this paper it has been tried to observe that what the current position of women in the shipping industry is. It was required to find out that what the current ratio of women in this industry is so that the involvement can be observed. The research has been performed to show that how women have made their way in this male dominating world and the challenges that they face once the enter. The study is important to be performed as the shipping industry holds very crucial important in every countrys economics. women in past were degraded in this industry and were never given any important job position. With time, women have proved themselves in this industry that if they are given chances then they can compete men in this industry as well. It was necessary to bring this fact in front of the readers that women have got a great career in this industry of shipping. There are special organizations which are devoted for supporting the role of women in this industry and it is also necessary to highlight the services of such organizations. In short, it was a very important study to be performed as it is necessary that women should be supported in the shipping industry so that they can join the crews and enhance the creativity and development in the industry.
1.6 Motivation for the Study
We were motivated to perform this study as the shipping industry has always taken as a world of men. It was desired to show that women can also work along with men in this industry. If we got through the history where women have served over the ships with great brilliance the motivation is created to bring more number of women in to this industry. Going through the history made us to work over this domain area and try to bring in front of the people that women can work at their best in this male dominated industry. In past, many examples are available in which women have given great services. Another motivation for performing this study was that at first women in this industry were limited to the jobs of nursing, laundresses and other such jobs. It was considered that they are not fit for the jobs like radio officer, management, captain and so on. We were motivated to show that women can even perform best at the high level jobs in this shipping industry. Women once join this industry then they have to face a lot of challenges in order to prove themselves successful in this male dominated industry. It was also desired to let the readers know that what kinds of challenges are faced by women when they join this male dominated world. Currently, a great participation is being made by women in the shipping industry so it was required to highlight this integration.
Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Women in Shipping Industry
In todays world, women are not behind men in any aspect. They are performing brilliantly in every field of life and this dissertation will focus on the performance of women in the shipping industry. Women are also giving remarkable services to this industry. This remarkable performance has diminished the old concept in which women were only supposed to perform their domestic activities. In the todays competitive environment if we look at the shipping companies women are also seen serving their country in large numbers and in some companies women are now outnumbering the men. There are many departments of shipping industry in which women are considered to be the best managers. It was not easy for women to get to this position but they had to actually earn this position by travelling a long way in order to achieve this status and value. It is the result of their struggle that they are now able to have the strongest positions in the crew. Otherwise, in the past they were just being appointed as the caretakers, nurses and laundresses etc which shows the schematic perception of male crew members who gave the same jobs to women as they did in their domestic private and family lives. The reason for this limitation was that it was never supposed that women can perform well in the shipping industry by considering that it is a technical industry and only men can handle it. At present, women have proved themselves by showing dedication towards their job and are now going ahead. The need of the hour today is to support women and allow them to enter in to this world (Boursaw 2002).
(Martinez, 2000)
From the diagram above, we can see that in the past, the ratio of women in the shipping industry was very low but with time it improved and more women entered into this field. Although, now the number of women in the shipping industry has increased but still they are in minority if compared with men. It is required that companies should hire more women in this field. The large number of women in shipping industry can be seen only in the developed countries like European countries where as there are still few countries in which there is no such concept of involving women in to this industry. In many countries, the willingness of deploying female staff in the shipping industry can be clearly observed by noticing that institutes that are established for providing trainings to the female staff. These institutes are responsible for guiding them with respect to how can they be a good officer onboard. The increase in the number of employed women over the ships can be seen by two factors
The dedication of the institutes for providing them training.
The interest of the shipping companies to hire more female staff.
It is also required that women should show interest towards taking the shipping engineering education as it is necessary for allowing them to have the technical knowledge of operating the ships.
Growing trends in the shipping industry have been observed especially in the passenger sector as compared to the commercial sector. In ferries and cruises a large number of female staff can be seen. Although women are being serving as engineers but still the large number of women are seen in the catering and hotel sector (Belcher 2003).
Since 1990s, the interest of hiring women as officers or at other high rankings has increased. It was the story of the past that only men used to face the dangers of the sea as now, in many situations, women are seen to support the male crew members with great strength. It used to be the case in the past as well but at that time due to less number of women their participation was ignored. In Western countries the policies are being developed that may avoid the discrimination in this industry giving more opportunities to women for holding higher ranks. The gates of employment are now wide open for women for every rank. The reason is that women are now getting attracted towards the shipping and maritime education and the same female staff members who were found in cooking and cleaning the cruises, vessels and ferries are now seen over the decks, steam turbines and so on. Women can do extremely well at the engineering side, management side and also on the caretaking side of the ship. In many cases, it can be observed even today that many males try to dominate the females because they consider that women may not handle the difficult situations over the ship and sea. In this situation, the mean even do not allow women at higher ranks to do according to their opinion. Many studies have showed the fact that a diverse crew i.e., a crew having both males and females may perform well as it can be more creative. In short, women have proved themselves in every field of shipping industry and they have done this with great struggle. So, it is recommended that women should be welcomed in this field and allowed to perform at their best. (Horck 2008)
2.2 Fundamentals of discrimination of gender
In this part of the paper, the problem of discrimination in gender will be highlighted which will then serve as the basis of the formulation of the results and conclusions that are given at the end of the paper.
The fact remains the same that ever since the shipping industry has developed, the male counterparts who actually dominate the industry have actually made a number of schemas from the very beginning and have taken it from there along way up till now when the shipping industry is actually much more advanced and developed. There are a number of opportunities and jobs that can be performed by women and actually they can be performed better if women are assigned to these jobs but just because of the fact that male dominants think that women cannot take the pressure, women are declined of these opportunities.
Through research, it has been seen that women are very much motivated to work at sea and in fact most of the women share the same opinion especially for the cruise industry because they get to interact with different people with different cultural backgrounds and that is what motivates them even more. This is the reason why it is seen that despite all the discrimination that prevails, still, most of the women working in the shipping industry are generally found related some way or the other to the cruise ship industry.
However, the discrimination starts not when women enter the industry, but, it starts way before that when they are actually getting training for their line of work. There are many institutions and academies which provide training programs for women in order to excel in the industry but the question remains that are women given the representation in these academies and the degrees offered on the same level as men Certainly not as it has been seen that from the very start, women are not given admissions to the core degrees of the shipping industry such as marine, engineering and many other, rather they are only restricted to the hotel and cabin section. This is where the discrimination starts even before these women get their feet on the deck. There opportunities are surpassed by men who take all the seats in specialized degrees and leave back the cabin and hotel departments for women for as they think that women can serve the ship the best in only this section.
For this reason, it has also been seen that most of the doctors who serve on deck are also men, despite the fact that there are many good female doctors contributing the global health related causes all over the world and earning recognition from global institutions which proves that women are no less than men when it comes to men, still why are they not given opportunities on the deck. There is again no other reason except discrimination to this answer as women are the ones who are forced to serve as nurses or assistants to doctors despite the fact that they have experience, expertise and the skills to outperform men in this field.
Apart from this, all over the world it is seen that according to non-discriminating policies and frameworks, there has to be no bias with respect to gender, class race and ethnic or cultural background. However, evidence will be provided later on that almost all of the families who are employed in the shipping industry, that is the husband and the wife serving onboard are earning different salaries for the same job that they are performing. Women get highly demotivated when they see that the sacrifice the time that would rather spend with their families and children, get discriminated on the type of work that is assigned to them and then when it comes to the compensation that they receive, the face discrimination again as men earn more for the same job and for the same level of effort that they put in. because of this reason many women have tried leaving the industry but because of their financial constraints they are forced to go back to the industry and serve again at the jobs that are only set for women. These jobs are cleaning, serving as waitresses, room service, washing, laundry and etc.
Apart from salary and the type of work that is assigned to women, even institutions such as naval colleges also tend to discriminate amongst male and female e cadets. It will be discussed in the later part of the report with the help of a table that despite females serving as engineers all over the world in a number of industries, there was no degree for women in the naval colleges in the late 1990s, rather they college gave equitant representation to women in the marine department but, there were no opportunities through which women could actually grow in the careers as a navel cadet. Out of around 40 degrees, only 4 degrees were there which gave a chance to women along with men to get them enrolled in them, whereas the rest were only reserved for women.
The paper ahead will provide a more detailed view of the points that have been discussed in this chapter.
2.3 Participation of Women in Shipping Industry
After so much improvement that is seen in this industry regarding the entrance of women. Still, the number of women is very low in the shipping industry. All over the world, the number of seafarers is almost 1.25million. Only 1 to 2 percent of women comprise this huge number. The small percentage is again having women only from the developed countries and the rest of the world is still not interested to let their women to enter in to this field. The number of women participating in the shipping industry highly depends on the region, country and company. Countries like Sweden, Denmark, Italy, United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, Belgium and Germany are having much number women participation in the shipping industry. The following table shows the number of seafarers in the different countries and the number of women among these seafarers.
( Martinez, 2000)
The table shows that the Swedish women have shown the greatest participation. On the other hand the Italian women have shows the least interest as compared to different European countries. If we talk about other countries of the world then 3 of the Australian women are involved in this industry. New Zealand is having only 0.5 of its women in the shipping industry. This is a discouraging figure as these are the developed countries and still the awareness of integration of women in the shipping industry is not seen on the level it is supposed to be. The largest number of seafarers is being supplied by the Philippines but only 225 of the supplied seafarers are women. (Belcher 2003)
2.4 Empowering Women in the Maritime Industry
Women should be integrated in to all the aspects of the society like social, cultural political and industrial. They have proved that they can help in the development of the country and the nation. This part of the paper focuses over empowering women in the shipping industry. Women have got complete right in getting in to this industry as they have struggled a lot and proved themselves. Initiatives should be taken that may allow women to outnumber men in every department of this industry. This movement should have a very important place in the society as women are also courageous and strong. They are able to face the dangers of the sea with full determination and it is encouraging that women are not only seen on the officer level or at the caretaking level on the ships but they can also be seen in the labor market of shipping industry as well. Almost 7 of the total labor market is comprised of women today. This shows the hard work and efforts of women in this industry. Special organizations have been developed and should continue to develop in order to support women. There should be no difference of wages, occupation, position, ranks and employment and so on in the shipping industry between men and women. The emphasis should be made over this issue because these differences have been observed in this industry in past and even at present at some places. (Mitropoulos 2008)
Strategies should be made for improving the health, development, careers, planning and empowerment of women in the shipping industry. It is also required that for strengthening the role of women in this industry equality should be promoted. So that women may peacefully work in this environment. It can be seen that women are peacefully working in the shipping industry in the European countries but the condition of women in the shipping industries of Western countries is very devastating. Emphasis is being made over the development of equality in between the men and women in this industry on the global level. It is not only the importance of the industry but also is a major human rights concern. The human rights are equally important in all the industries and fields. If the role of women is provided with adequate importance that they deserve, then the environment of the shipping industry will also be improved and enhanced.
The establishment of equality between both the genders is now being pursued to be achieved on the international level. Agreements are being made that can exert some pressure for not only hiring women in this industry but also to give them equal importance. It is time for the shipping industry to realize the fact that like other fields of life, this field also cannot prove to be productive.
Empowerment is not only needed in a single area instead inspirational, educational and moral strengths are equally required. Laws and policies should be developed that can introduce the integration and involvement of women in every position of this shipping industry along with men. This strategy will provide women with a chance of moving ahead. Needs and necessities of women in this industry should also be addressed and defined. (Mitropoulos 2008)
Now, it is not only the shipping industry as a whole, we also need to put some light on the naval recruitment of new cadets or students in naval colleges. The table below shows the exact situation of the contribution of women in naval colleges and the late 90s.
(Martinez, 2000)
It is clear in the above table that in merchant navy, there was only one graduate representing females, in navigation there were two, and in engineering, there was none for women. The fact is that ever since sciences and engineering have become an integral part of our higher studies curriculum, why have women not been made a part of engineering in the naval academies The answer is the same as the basic theme of this paper. The schematic thinking of policy makers regarding the idea of women working over and underneath the deck on engines and machinery is quite vague and unacceptable for them.
This issue has been raised many times and the discussions have always ended up in the identification of many different areas of this industry which need rapid, constant and sustainable improvement. These areas are lacking the fulfillment of the rights of women and it can be said that women are being ignored in these areas. Some of the areas which need to be improved in order to empower women are given below
Poverty and women.
Shipping education for women.
Awareness of this industry among women.
Training for women.
Economic conditions and women.
Involving women in the decision making functions of the industry.
Involving women in the technical operations of the industry.
Providing women with some power.
Realizing the role of women in this industry.
Realizing the need and importance of women in this industry.
Brining women to the advancement.
It is a fact that if all these areas are improved and work is done over it then the role of women will become much stronger than now. The industry should invest over women so that women can realize and come in front for providing their services to this industry. (Mitropoulos 2008)
2.5 Challenges Faced by Women in the Shipping Industry
It was not easy for women to make place for themselves in the male dominated shipping industry. In this dissertation as we are discussing that what is the current position of women in this industry. For this reason, it is necessary to discuss the various challenging situation that are faced by women.
Following is the description of these challenges
Male Domain Because of the attitudes of this industry, the industry is still known to be a male domain world even in the presence of women. The industry is having the inflexible and well unshakable attitudes. The attitudes continue to exist even when women are becoming an integral part of the industry. These attitudes definitely do have adverse affects over the entrance of women in this industry. As when the parents and women themselves observe such behaviors then they would never like to steer their girls to enter in to this field. Also, in many cases when the girls want to join this industry then women have to face the prejudice during education as well as during the search of jobs in this industry. It is greatly observed that the people consider women unfit for this industry and women are not treated like the men. In many cases, women also are made to realize the fact that they are not chosen on the bases of their merit but because of their gender. For these reasons, women have to work harder than the men in order to prove their abilities. Women are never taken serious by the male colleagues. It can also be said that the major challenge being faced by women is to prove them that they are able to have a job and a good rank. Obviously, women can prove themselves and ace these rude attitudes only when they are rewarded by the good position and ranks otherwise they will keep themselves away from the industry.
Career Option Another challenge is that, women have to convince the people in their surroundings to allow them to join the industry. This is because the image of this industry has always been set as the male dominated industry so the parents hardly allow their daughters to join this industry. The lack of awareness makes drives women away from this field and they only join the industry due to their economic reasons. It means that because of unawareness women come to this industry and for this reason they cannot make it to the very end. They join the industry and learn it on the bases of experiments and sometimes this creates it a challenging situation for them.
Role Models Role models in any industry are necessary for the inspiration of other people to come to this industry. The misfortune is that there is deficiency of female role models in this industry that may attract the other women towards this industry. All over the world, very less number of such women exists in this industry that can be taken as the role models. Mostly women who do have good profile in this industry belong to the families of the owners of the companies. These are the elite companies or groups and very few examples of such women are available.
Mentoring by Men When male members perform the process of mentoring of female young staff then it is very sporadic. Most of the people in this industry which are appointed at the high ranks are men as this is a male dominated industry. So when these male members are performing the task of mentoring then there are very few chances that they will select the female candidates. There are many reasons behind this and few of which are pressure from the society, the reaction of the family of women, the reaction of the colleagues and absence of same interests and so on. Such issues divert the mind of the mentors for choosing the male candidates. In other words mentoring by men is not favorable for women.
Mentoring by Women In majority cases it can be observed that women are never appointed for mentoring. For this reason, women cannot support the young women entering into this field. Another thing that can be noticed in this regard is that some women who reach higher position think that they have made this achievement with great struggle. According to these women, they cannot choose the young women as it can affect their studious image and nobody will then admit their struggle. These women also think that it would not be easier for the new women to enter and struggle in this field. This is a challenge for new women to enter in to this field as they are being opposed by their own gender. This situation makes it clear that not only opposite gender can cause problems but also women can create problems for other women.
The above defined are the basic challenges that are being faced by the majority of women in this industry. (Lee, 6)
2.6 Occupational segregation in the shipping industry
It is an obvious fact that the division of genders in the different occupations of the shipping industry is not the same. Even this fact does not need any analysis to be performed as it is quite obvious. All over the world, the percentage of women working as a workforce is very low. Same is the case with the shipping industry as very low number of women is found in this industry working as engineers. Positions like sea fearers, engineers, surveyors and explorers are termed to be the male oriented avenues.
Department-wise segregation of women
(Martinez, 2000)
So in these positions the segregation is quite unfair and the number of women is very low. Surveys clearly show that only 25 of women in the shipping industry make up the workforce of the companies. Still, the differences exist in different countries and companies. Also a huge difference can be seen in different occupations. Occupational segregation defines that gender discrimination is highly involved in to the shipping industry. A huge difference can be seen in the seniority level of both the genders. Most of the male members are seen on the senior positions but only a few females. (Lee, 2, n.d)
(Martinez, 2000)
If the workforce of the shipping industry is observed then it is found that majority of women are found in the hotel section of the ships, cruises and ferries. Most of the male are positioned at the higher level ranks and women are at other sideline jobs. This fact is not limited to any nationality, race or country but it is being observed in every country of the world. The following figure shows the segregation of the men and women in the shipping industry.
Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 1 Occupational segregation in shipping industry
Figure 1 clearly shows that women are having very low share in every field of the shipping industry. According to the surveys that were made in the year 1995 almost 88.4 percent of the total women working in the shipping industry were in the hotel sector while the rest of the 11.6 percent were the only ones working as the cadets and officers. Although improvements can now be seen, but still these improvements are not enough for sustainable development of women as far as this industry is considered. A lot is being done and a lot more has still to be done to reach the desired level of outcome that visionaries once thought of attaining.
Women can now be seen over the high level jobs as well but this number is still very small. The rise of women can be prominently seen in the cruise ships. The cruise ships have raised the proportion of women in almost every field like cruise directors, pursers, financial controllers, managers and chefs and so on. The department which is lacking the number of women at maximum is the marine department although women have proved that they can perform the management and supervisory services very well. The severity of the situation is such that women are not being appointed as doctors on large basis even because of the schematic approach towards the tough and rough life on the deck which is not essentially for women to live with easily. Most of women are working as the nurses in this sector. In short, it can be said that the occupational segregation in the shipping industry is very unfair and it is just giving chances to the men while ignoring the services of women. (Belcher, 16, 2003)
2.7 Women international shipping and trade association
Womens International Shipping and trading association is also being known as (WISTA). It also works for maritime transportation business and related trade worldwide. It plays a very important role in supporting women in many important tasks in life. It is a growing organization and members are increasing very rapidly during the last two years. WISTA is trying to be one of the leading organizations. Nominations of the WISTA associations for the best personality award 2009 totally depends upon some of the values that according to WISTA a person should have like professionalism in the field and sincerity and dedication to the work that has been assigned. Nonetheless, women who are taking initiatives as an entrepreneur with new products and services are also being recognized by the organization to keep them motivated and attract others as well to follow their footsteps. The four basic values of WISTA are professional, dynamic, open minded and committed. Professional means its a legal organization and all the rules and regulations should be followed by all the members and its managed by the board of directors of Exco and the standard of annual conference should always be high. The second value dynamic means to achieve the objectives and goals and high growth in individual and national members should also be achieved. The third values aims to see good changes and doing something which gives more success to the organization and giving every one opportunity to those who desire in making a shipping career. The most important value is to being committed with the organization and work on long terms and keeping the best interest for the members of WISTA and to maintain good relations with the 12 countries which were contacted i 2006.All the candidates are being nominated for their tremendous job whole year. Three candidates were selected this year. A record number of 245 participants were invited from 30 countries in this years conference. Pamela C is the winner of WISTA personality award in 2009.She joined WISTA in a very young age and worked really hard for the organization. Members of vista are approved by the members at a general meeting. Management level members are women Ship owners, brokers, agents, insurers, lawyers, banking and finance and risk managers
All the members of WISTA are actively participating in the development of WISTA. Its basic activity is the annual conference which takes place in September where programs are discussed and goals are set for the future. Last conference was held in London, UK. In the conference where the importance of diversity and corporate social responsibility was discussed. In 2010, WISTA annual conference will be held in Greece. (Womens International Shipping and Trade Association n.d)
Aims of WISTA
WISTA is a highly networking organization and it aims are as follows
To stay in touch with all the members throughout the year so that the organization can keep updated with the contacts, information, problems and different experiences faced by its members.
Its members should attain the best education
WISTA should co-operate with all the other institutions and organizations so that WISTA can improve its functions. (Womens International Shipping and Trade Association n.d)
Future of WISTA
WISTA will be named one of the most important organizations of the world. It will keep on improving the levels each year and the members percentage will increase more rapidly now. Following are the three majors of WISTA
It is now focusing to see highly qualified people to the industry.
The organization should be qualified with highly qualified people.
The levels of knowledge sharing and education should be improved. (Womens International Shipping and Trade Association n.d)
Chapter 3 Research Methodology
3.1 Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to explain the methodology that has been selected for performing this research work. Basically, methodology is used for providing the users with the realization that how we can prove this research true in practical. Research methodology also proves the validity of our ways of collecting data and also of our result. Research methodology also has to discuss the elements like collection of data, type of data used, and tool used for analysis of data and population and so on. Research methodology can also be termed as the design of the research. The research design can be considered as a bond that holds all the elements of the research together. The first thing that the research design should observe is to find out whether the research question is worth for searching or not. Before start searching it should be confirmed that this question is a valid question and this issue should be raised or not. After validating the research question this field should be explored in depth in order to find out much about the topic over which you are working. Research design also includes the decision of choosing the right methodology over which the research has to take place. What equipments and components as well as resources would be available for us is also decided in the research design of the project. In this chapter we also have to focus over the established hypothesis for this study. For designing a research project it is necessary to find out the appropriate methods and techniques that are most suitable for our research question as there are many kinds of methodologies and ways by which the research project can be carried out but choosing the most appropriate one is the major task that takes place during the research design. According to the Kotler and Armstrong (1990), there can be four basic stages of any research work
Defining the objectives of the research
Planning to collect the data.
Implementation.
Generating the results.
In this chapter the task of implementation has to be performed so it holds great importance.
3.2 Research Methodology
As we know that for performing any research two methods are available namely quantitative research and qualitative research. Although two methodologies are available but thorough observation is required to choose one between these two methodologies. This is the crucial stage because choosing the right research methodology is the basic element for the success of any research project. For this research we have chosen the methodology of qualitative research. We found qualitative research to be the most appropriate research methodology for performing this dissertation. This research methodology has helped a lot in finding out the objectives and to solve the questions that came in mind during this dissertation. Basically, qualitative research refers to the method in which the primary aim is to understand the concept of the study. We have made in depth research in order to find the concepts and meanings of this dissertation. This huge amount of information has allowed us to find out and observe the current solutions that are available for providing the internet security. The in depth study has provided the answers of all the questions related to this research objective. By using the qualitative research methodology, we understood that providing equality to the both of the genders in the shipping industry is necessary in the todays world. We can also observe from this research study that a number of companies now days are hiring women as well and they are even outnumbering men but this is limited to only few of the countries. This dissertation has focused over providing empowerment to women in the shipping and maritime industry and the main purpose of performing this study is to develop the awareness among the people in the society that it is no longer a male dominated industry. This information in this dissertation will make it easier for the people to make a clear idea about the role of women that can be provided in this industry.
The choice of research methodology depends on the nature of the dissertation. For this dissertation qualitative research was appropriate because it is a study that is based on observations of the past few years. This approach of collecting the available data regarding the research question was helpful and essential in terms of the timeliness of the dissertation. In this dissertation the clear picture of the shipping industry and its environment has been provided along with the challenges that have to be faced by women in this industry. This total picture has allowed the readers to develop the answer to the research question and to conclude the dissertation. This dissertation has allowed the society to think that what can be the improvements in the role of women in the shipping industry if they are empowered. Hence all the objectives are met in this dissertation regarding the integration of women in the shipping industry, empowering women in this industry and the challenged that are faced by women in this industry. The qualitative research in this dissertation has helped us getting the in depth understanding of the topic by making us to explore the research area and then establishing our own opinions and thoughts for finding out the result.
3.3 Aims and Objectives of research
The topic of this dissertation is very vast and there are many aims and objectives that can be met by using this dissertation. In this dissertation the main aim was to find out the current condition of women in the shipping industry. It has also tried to focus that what behaviors are being faced y women in this male dominated industry. The report has tried to give a look of the struggle that has been made by women in this industry in order to made space for them. The elements that are necessary to be focused over in order to empower women in this industry have also been discussed. In this paper, it is also described that what kind of jobs are being performed by women in this industry.
3.4 Data Collection
For performing this dissertation a great deal of data has been collected. The data is collected because it is a qualitative research and it needs a lot of information regarding the topic so that the concepts can be developed. Developing concepts is not the only aim but also data regarding the past position is observed to make the comparison and predicting future. The data collection is performed in order to collect the information that can be used further for making decisions. It is recommended that data should be collected from the reliable sources so as to generate the valid result. For this dissertation it was strictly advised that such data should be collected that can not only look over the current situations in the shipping industry regarding the role of women but it can also provide an insight to the past and future as well. The main reason for this strictness is due to the fact that we are basically focusing over the recent trends of hiring women in this industry as it is quite necessary to provide the industry with the concept of equality. When it comes to data collection then again we have many different techniques that can be used for collecting the information. The data collection methods that we have used during this dissertation are surveys, observation and the use of written descriptions. We have surveyed the online information that was available regarding the integration of women in shipping industry in order to find out that to what extent women are given chances in this industry. The shipping industry of many countries is having a large number of women available in the crew. These are women who do have the awareness. So, if people will be having awareness regarding the shipping industry only then they will be able to choose the very industry. The available literature over this research area enabled us to analyze the severe ignorance that had been faced by women in the past and these women were never considered to be able to deal with this job and its operations. The written descriptions have also played a great role in conducting this research. These written descriptions allow to get the concepts and meanings cleared and also to understand the scenario. The collected data that we have gathered for performing this research again has got two options i.e. primary data and secondary data. For this report we have used secondary data collection as it was the suitable one for this dissertation. For collecting this secondary data we have used many different sources. The only restriction was to use the sources that can give overview of past, present and future. Although we have gone through the old sources as well in order to judge the background of the integration of women in this male dominated shipping industry. But the latest information has to be provided mainly because of the improvements that are expected to be made in this regard. Data collection is a method of performing the study that is used in qualitative research and it is no doubt a very beneficial research methodology as it provides with vast knowledge.
3.5 Secondary Data
It has been mentioned above that this paper is based on the secondary data. A great deal of search has been performed for gathering the desired and relevant information. Secondary data is actually the data that has not been produced by us during the dissertation but it was generated earlier by some other writer or researcher but being used by us. The reason for using secondary data in this dissertation is that it was relevant and was providing us help in completing our tasks. Secondary data is available for anyone to use for research work and can exist in many different forms like books, journals, websites, and surveys and so on. The secondary data that we have used for this dissertation was previously used for some sort of analysis or observation. We have made use of this data in our dissertation sometimes in its original form and sometimes we have just provided the reference.
Searching the secondary data for our dissertation was not an easy task to perform as we were also limited to the update information only. The literature has been given by observing the available secondary data and then developing our own analysis. For this dissertation secondary data is the best choice because primary data needs a lot of time as it is not necessary to generate primary data in short span of time. Secondary data provides us a great deal of information in a limited time. This helps in completing the dissertation in the given timeline. Many people consider that secondary data is not useful as none of the work is being done by own. But this concept is not a valid concept as secondary data is really useful in providing with the huge information. In this dissertation detailed information is gathered regarding the value of the internet security and information, the various threats associated with the internet security and the available methods that are used for the protection of the information and so on. This was a broad topic and in this time period it was not possible to develop the primary data for this dissertation so secondary data was the most suitable data type.
Chapter 4 Research Findings
4.1 Introduction
This chapter includes the results that we have developed after performing that much research. The overall literature and findings are reviewed to find out that what we have found in our research. All the gathered data is being interpreted in this phase of research findings in to the form of results. Meanings will be given to all the literature that has been collected and then analysis will be performed over this meaning and then conclusions will be made and presented in front of the people in such a way so that people can understand the objective of this research report. Basically in this phase of research project the data is organized in to a symmetry that can be further used as conclusion of our research question. This is the most sensitive part of the research project as in this part the data has to be analyzed very carefully because any mistake can cause the conclusion of the research project to be not very satisfied. At reaching this level of project we have to consider from the scratch once again the research question, our hypothesis, presented literature overview and the methodologies that have been used in this research project. This phase also judges the significance and importance of the research question and the study and then further steps are taken. This phase also involves a great deal of decision making as the people who are working over the project have to think about the collected data from the aspect of research question and then they also have to make any decision that is this report going to favor the research question or not. This phase of report seems to be very simple but it is not the case it takes a lot of concentration and time to find out the findings out of the huge amount of data so proper care and attention should be given in this phase.
4.2 Research Findings
By observing the literature review that has been provided in the dissertation, we can now easily define the findings of our research. The report has clearly shown that the shipping industry is no doubt a male dominated industry. The number of women in this industry is very low as compared to the men. There are many reasons behind this low number of women. The biggest reason is that it has been always considered that this industry is a male dominated industry and women cannot perform well in this industry. This is no doubt a very wrong portrayal of women in the shipping industry as it can be observed that in past women have performed at their best. It is not a true perception that women can only perform in the hotel sector of the shipping industry. Instead, women have also performed their services in the engineering sector of the ships as well. Many examples of the bravery of women in this industry can be taken from the past when women performed their best at the sea during the Second World War. At that time women did their best for handling the ships and faced all the dangers with great courage. It is the modern age and women can perform almost every single task. They should be given chances to enter in to this field so that they can also do well in this industry.
Women have also faced a number of challenges for proving themselves in this industry. It was not an easy task to make a place in the male dominated shipping industry. Even it can be observed that in the areas where women are having the highest ranks in the shipping industry still the command is given to the men. The men always consider that women may not be able to handle the dangers of the sea so they always try to remain at front place. The major challenge that has been faced by women regarding the shipping industry is the lack of awareness. Women and their families consider that it is a tough job and cannot be handled by women. This conception should be changed as in todays world women are performing in almost every field. The only required thing is awareness. Women should be encouraged to get education that is relevant to the shipping industry. The awareness will make the families to realize that their women are safe in this industry. Another biggest challenge is to face the atmosphere of this industry which is entirely controlled by men. This makes the families of women to get afraid of sending them in to this industry. The improvement of the atmosphere is highly required as in an environment where the men do not consider women working would be so tough. Women do need value, respect and position for working at any place. The gender equality is highly needed in this very industry. Integrating women in this industry will also enhance the performance of this industry.
It can also be explored that the trend of women involving in to the industry of shipping is not the same at every place. It may vary from country to country and from region to region. The following figure shows the participation of males and females in the shipping industry in the different regions.
Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 2 Participation of women based on the regions
The figure proves that the regional involvement of women is also very different at different regions. In the above figure the blue color is representing the participation of women while the black color is representing the participation of men. It can be seen that in Eastern Europe and the OECD countries, the participation of women is even higher than that of men. This shows that in these countries women does not have to face any constraints or opposition. It also shows that the shipping industry in these regions is free of discrimination. This policy should be adapted y the shipping industry of every region and country. It is also required that organizations and institutes should be established that does not only create the awareness among the people but may also provide training to women who are beginners in this field. Women International Shipping and Trading Association is one of the prominent association or organization that is working for the betterment of integration of women in the shipping industry. This association is working hard for getting women attracted towards this industry. The association has also tried to focus over making the position of women in the shipping industry stronger so that they may get the high positions ad ranks. It is required that other such associations should be established that may enhance the role of women in this industry.
In this dissertation we have also tried to find out that what the occupational segregation is in the shipping industry in terms of gender. It was found that a large separation occurs in the occupational distribution. All the technical jobs are mostly handled by the men and women are seldom provided with any chances of becoming technical personnel. Most of women are concentrated in to the sectors like nursing, hospitality and hotel. This is no doubt a very wrong practice as if this practice will continue then women will never be provided with any chances to progress. The findings can be concluded by saying that women can no doubt play a great role in the shipping industry. It is recommended that women crew members should also be given chances to get to the technical jobs. The companies should hire women in their staff so that they can perform and create the examples for the other young women to get in to this field. There are no female role models present in this field which also makes the youngsters to think about joining this field. The discrimination and gender differences should be forgotten and women should be given the equal opportunities as men. The shipping industry is the major player of the economy of the country so it is desired that this industry should be flourished. Integration of women with men in the shipping industry will no doubt make a good combination generating a large number of creative ideas and finally leading to development.
(Martinez, 2000)
Chapter 5 Conclusion
5.1 Discussion
The dissertation has focused over the promotion of integration of women in to the shipping industry which is highly male dominated. The dissertation has explored the fact that this is the age of modernization and the world is moving so fact. In this age, the restrictions that are applied over women for entering in to the industry of shipping do not make any sense. Shipping industries can be termed as one of the most active industries of any country and it also helps to eliminate the problems of unemployment and poverty as it offers a large deal of jobs. This industry is offering good packages of salary and facilities. In todays world none of the single reason is available for keeping women away from this industry. Instead, women should be encouraged to get in to this field and attain the benefits. Women today are not less than the men in any case. They need to work to support their families and to have a good standard of life. For this, they definitely need jobs to perform. The shipping industry is offering a vast number of jobs but the problem is that women are not allowed to enter in to this field. In many cases, if they are allowed to enter then they are not getting support from the colleagues as well as from the family. The dissertation has focused over providing women with the equal chances to get in this industry. The companies should recruit and hire women not only for the hotel sector but they should also consider women for the engineering jobs.
Women should be helped by their seniors as well as by their colleagues for getting adjusted in the male dominated atmosphere. It has been observed globally that only 1 to 2 percent of women are involved in the workforce of the shipping industry. The rest of the workforce is comprised of men. Most of women are concentrated in to the hotel sector. This is another discouraging factor for women to get in to this field. It is not enough to have a position of nurse or a cook women need much more as they are capable of performing hard jobs as well. The skills of women are not limited and they can also act as the managers, radio operators and even engineers at the ships. The rise in the number of women is prominently observed in the cruise ships. The developed countries do have large number of women at the ships but there is no concept of involving women in this industry in the developing countries. It is recommended that the constraints should be removed so that women may enter in to this field. The awareness programs should be arranged so that women and their families may know the details of this field. The dissertation has focused over the gender equality. It suggests that women should equally and greatly participate in the shipping industry and the companies should appreciate their interests. The rights of women are universal and they have also got the abilities to perform well at any place. If they are given chances then they can also take the place of the male members over the ships. It can be concluded that women can no doubt perform well in this industry so chances should be provided to them. Gender equality is very important in every industry. They should not be taken as the chefs or the caretakers. They should also be given the chances to work as the operators and engineers. Women have made great struggle in proving themselves and the examples of this struggle can be seen in the past. The shipping industry highly needs to involve the gender equity in to it. The steps should be taken that can make the male dominated industry in to a balanced one so that both the men and women can have equal opportunities of proving themselves. The dissertation is very significant and it can be a part of creating the awareness among the people regarding the industry of shipping. This awareness is hardly required in changing the overall atmosphere of the shipping industry. The age today is demanding the participation of both the men and women so women should never be discouraged in this regard.
5.2 Future Recommendations
By considering the overall research project we can provide the following future recommendations
It is required that steps should be taken that can improve and promote the gender equity. Institutes and organizations should be established that can promote the awareness of the shipping industry. Educational programs should be made common for everyone. Policies should be developed that can attract women and also convince their families for allowing them to enter in to the shipping industry. It is to be realized that its time to inculcate in companies and develop them to see that the unequal behavior amongst the employees is a very immoral practice. Policies should be developed that can eliminate the barriers over the employment. Antidiscrimination legislations should be introduced into the industry and policies should be introduced that may provide a concentration of women which should be at least 30 to 40 percent. Steps should be taken to show all the genders should be given equal right. Men and women both are equal and no one is superior to another. Equality in all firms of life is necessarey to encourage females. Comparision of man and women should be avoided on strict basis in order to increase the percentage of females participating in economy. Setting lower salaries for women makes them feel unpleasant. When a woman knows that she will get less salary if she perform the same job as her husband this discrimination makes them avoid the industry and do more for their families at home rather than going out for work and be discriminated at the hands of male employees. They try to live traditionally then working on ecnomic basis. One has to look after the household for the benefit of their children. But at the end of the day the families have less disposable income women are forced to do these jobs even at lower salaries and positions. This lackness matters a lot in the equality of men and woman. Government should take strict steps in this cause. It is dragging women backwards in participation in the economy. Less salary makes women dependent on others. So, in future the focus should be made over providing the equal rights to the men and women at the workplace in every industry.
Appendix
Thirty women were given a survey with questions all related to their workplace in the shipping industry. There were questions ranging from age and education to issues that women face in the workplace.
Age
25-301531-40741-50751-601610
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Ages were given in groups and participants were asked to answer which age group they fell in. 50 were in the 25 - 30 age group, 23 fell into the 31 40 group, 23 are in the 41 50 age range and only 3 were in the 51 60 age group. This tells us that, even though half of the participants ages ranged between 25 and 30, nearly half were between 31 and 50. Only one person was between the ages of 51 and 60.
Education
High School or equivalent -Bachelor in shipping studies2Bachelor in non shipping studies 14MSc12Phd2Maritime Academy 1 EMBED Excel.Chart.8 s
This question was given to determine the education level of the participants as well as define whether or not their degree was related to shipping studies or not. In this case, 14 out of 30, or 46 answered that their degree was not related to shipping studies. In fact, only 6 did have a degree in that particular field.
Your work for a
Shipping Company Law Firm Insurance CompanyBank or Financial Institution College University Maritime AcademyAgencyBunkers
Marital Status
Married 9Single 5Widowed 0Divorced 1Other 15
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Do you have children
No23Yes 7
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Please indicate which of the following best describes your organizations size.
5 employees 10 employees 11-20 employees 20-40 employees more than 50 employees more than 100 employees more than 200 employees EMBED Excel.Chart.8 s
What is the percentage of women employees in your current office
100 women070 women050 women030 women015 women 2Less than 1528
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Answers were given based on a percentage with answer option ranging from 100 all women to less than 15 women. In this case, 28 people, or 93, said that there are less than 15 women in their office. The results indicate that the majority of the employees are male in this particular office.
Question 10 What is the percentage of women managers in your current office
100 women070 women050 women030 women015 women 0Less than 1530Other -
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This question gave the same format as the last one with the results being only slightly different. 100 answered that less than 15 of the managers are female. Again, this is shows us that it is a male dominated industry.
Question 11 How many women and men top level managers are present in your company
Women 2Men28
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Do you feel any inequalities in your work environment
No 1Yes29
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97 answered yes to this question revealing that perhaps there are issues surrounding the work environment at this company, or at least, in the office.
Do you agree to the statement that women employees are generally not assigned saferisky jobs in companies where they are employed
No 12Yes18
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12 persons, or 40, answered no with the remaining 18 answered yes.
Are you paid less when compared to your male colleague
No24Yes 6
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28 out of 30 people answered no to this question. It shows that the majority of women feel that they are paid less because they are female.
Are you able to lead work and family life smoothly
No 2Yes28
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28 participants, or 93 said yes to this question.
Do you stay work beyond office hours
No 4Yes26
This question was given in a yesno format in which 26, or 86, said yes leaving 4 people, or 13, saying no. The combination of this and the last question aim to bring out any kind of overlap of work and family. It appears from the survey that, even though most work overtime, most are happy at home as well.
Question 23 Do you feel that glass ceiling effect is due to
Indifferent participation from the managementPrevention from receiving promotionUnder representation for women in the executive suiteLeave jobs due to lack of opportunitiesDo not possess leadership qualities1Lack of interpersonal skillsSupply barriersIsolation of women2Pipeline barrierLack of mentoring and management training5Lack of opportunities for career developmentDifferent standards of performance evaluation3Sexual harassment Being perceived as less mobile19Little or no access to information network of communication
15 different options are given to answer this question ranging from Indifferent participation from the management to Little or no access to information network of communication. 19 out of 30 answered that the reason is that they are being perceived as less mobile. 5 out of 30 said that there is Lack of mentoring and management training.
Question 24 Did you ever feel any barrier in your work because of being a woman
No 0Yes30
With a yesno answer, 100 answered yes to this question
To what extent do you feel a glass ceiling exists in your company
0 15 7 3 5 To No Extent
To a Little Extent
To a Moderate Extent
To a Great Extent
To a Very Great Extent
From this survey alone, we have concluded that in the shipping industry, the majority of the women feel as though they are less equal to the men when it comes to pay and overall opportunities for advancement. They all felt that certain barriers existed because they were female and that they were thought of as being less mobile. Most of the women did feel, however, that even though they work overtime, their home lives do not suffer from it. However, one of the earlier questions highlights the fact that the majority of the women do not have a degree in the area of shipping, which could possibly be a barrier to evolve in the business.
It appears that this survey could provide management with a good foundation with which they could take steps in the proper direction to make female employees feel as if they are equal to their male counterparts.
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