Women in the maritime sector have been advised to put in their best in their various endeavours in order to be taken serious by their male counterparts which is the major hurdle they contend with in the industry.
The advice was given at the Women In Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) Nigeria meeting last week.
During the interactive session after the lecture delivered by, Engineer Greg Ogbeifun titled “The Adoption of Africa’s Women in Maritime Platform of Action”, he analyzed the challenges women go through to become success stories in the industry and key among them are cultural barriers and gender inequality.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Morbod Group, Barrister (Mrs.) Margaret Orakwusi said that some of the first generation females in the industry had to work extra hard to make a mark in the male dominated maritime industry.
According to her, “I am trained as a lawyer and not as a marine engineer but I discovered that with a little bit of humility and belief in what you are doing you can become a perfect engineer”
She equally said that having a family means that you are not always ready to go like the men and a real woman would always think about the needs of the children and her husband, “it is only when there is a wonderful man behind a woman, who understands that there is a job to be done by the woman who is the big earner in the home and shows support and willingness to step in and do what a mother should do, only then will it work out” she added.
Similarly, the International Director of WISTA- Nigeria, Barr. Oritstamatosun Edodo-Emore noted that for the African women to attain their potential as a wife, a mother and a high flier in her profession, she needs to realize that she needs her partner to take the credit for her success and she needs wisdom to find a way of showing humility all the time to her husband, she enthused.
Finally Engr. Ogbeifun encouraged the women to employ the principles of multitasking, supervision and delegation in the home and to see maintaining constant communication with their spouses as the answer to achieving and becoming a success story in their given profession.
He recommended that they should not neglect the importance of mentorship not sponsorship of aspiring younger generation of women who will take over from where they stopped so as to achieve equitable representation of women in the maritime industry locally.
The president of the Association Barrister (Mrs.) Jean Chiazor Anichere earlier said that the association was set to launch a new WISTA maritime directory, Journal and launching of the volume 4 of the WISTA lecture series book in April.
