Abstract
Relations among women have always been complex. However, this complexity varies depending on the context and the people involved. Relationships that gain different characteristics in male-dominated environments take on an extra dimension when it comes to the maritime sector. In this study, it is emphasized that the conditions onboard and at school are similar in terms of primary relationships. Based on this, the parallelism between the relationships among women onboard a ship and women faculty members in a maritime university was studied. As a result, it was concluded that the harsh conditions of the maritime field brought women closer together and encouraged them to support each other, and that this support continued in educational institutions. However, there are always exceptions and these exceptions have been given with their causes in this study.
TopWomen And Work Life
Due to physical and emotional differences, cultures and civilizations have assigned roles and duties, basic tasks and responsibilities to men and women throughout history. Among these duties, women were naturally assigned domestic tasks such as giving birth and raising children, caring for the family, while men were assigned non-domestic tasks such as maintaining the household, providing food, and creating a safe environment. However, as a result of social, cultural, and technological developments, the roles assigned to women by society have increased and varied.
As women entered work life in the modern sense, people began to divide jobs into “women's jobs” and “men's jobs.” Accordingly, men were more likely to occupy senior positions such as managers and chiefs, while women worked in monotonous jobs where they earned less money. Traditionally, jobs such as caring for the elderly, sick and children, housekeeping, food production, weaving, teaching and nursing were considered more suitable for women's employment. These jobs are seen as women's work because they are associated with the personality traits attributed to women. As reported by Mills (1988), jobs designed in accordance with gender roles characterize men as rational and analytical and women as emotional and intuitive, and women are perceived as less efficient and less valuable than men in the same position. Accordingly, the distinction between male employees in higher-status positions and female employees in lower-status positions has come to be taken for granted.
The problems women experience may vary according to the characteristics of the work they do. Occupations where the proportion of women is less than 25% are defined as male-dominated occupations. Examples of such occupations are construction, mining, and transportation (Catalyst, 2021). Women working in male-dominated jobs have to deal with both the difficulties experienced by other women in working life and the difficulties brought about by the male-dominated work environment. A strong masculine culture prevails in these sectors; therefore, it is very difficult for people with a mentality shaped by this culture to include women and grant them equal rights (Bridges et al., 2014). This culture challenges women's skills, does not tolerate women doing the work traditionally done by men, claims that women cannot be effective in these jobs, and even tends to react differently to women.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Maritime Sector: The sector which develops in line with the increase in the world trade volume and rapidly evolving information and communication technologies. The developments in the maritime sector go hand in hand with the developments in passenger and freight transport, including the shipbuilding industry, and new technologies that are used in Ships, Ports, sectoral energy efficiency, port services, marine tourism and yachting, living and non-living natural resources and the environment, including the management of a wider marine industry, commerce and service.
Career Perception: A person's perception of career is when he/she determines a path to specialize in his/her profession and diversifies, develops, and keeps his/her knowledge up to date, regardless of company, seniority, sector or even field.
Intra-Institutional: An adjective referring to the internal relations of the workplace, either within the workplace itself or between individuals working in the same workplace at different locations or in the same department.
Patriarchal Understanding: A patriarchal understanding is a worldview that is centered on the belief that men are superior to women and that men should hold power and authority over women. This type of understanding is often based on traditional gender roles and the idea that men are naturally suited to leadership and decision-making, while women are expected to take on supportive roles and to defer to men in matters of importance. This understanding has been prevalent in many cultures and societies throughout history, and it continues to have a significant impact on the way that gender is understood and constructed in the world today.
Academic World: The academic world is a community of scholars and students who are involved in teaching, learning, and research. It includes universities and other institutions of higher education, as well as organizations dedicated to advancing knowledge in a specific field.
Seafarer: A person who works on a ship to earn a living. These people live on the ship, go where the ship goes, and do the work assigned to them on the ship.they can stay on the ship for days, weeks or even months. They can only disembark when the ship docks at the port and the ship's captain gives permission.
Male-Dominated: An adjective used to describe places with a male majority. According to the accepted definition, if the proportion of a particular gender in a place is less than 25 percent, that place is considered to be dominated by the other gender. For example, male-dominated means that women in that place constitute less than 25 percent of the whole. This term is mostly used to describe occupations or workplaces. For example, male-dominated jobs, male-dominated workplaces, male-dominated schools. The antonym of this word is female-dominated.