Pursuit of the Sea (with Sanjam Gupta - 2)
We continue our conversation with Sanjam Gupta where she shares more about her experience in the industry and how WISTA has helped women work in a difficult industry that she loves so much.
I feel that the biggest challenge is the mindset. Sometimes women themselves doubt their capabilities and shy away from taking on more responsibilities. Several times they don’t get the support they need from their spouses or partners –taking the recent case of a lady I knew. She was fantastic in her job at sales, but her husband, being traditional, was not happy with her meeting so many men as part of her job had her confined to a desk job. It doesn’t make sense.
The mindset of the industry gentlemen forms presumptions on the basis of gender that women may not be as capable as them or may come with “baggage” (such as maternity leave, etc). They are less likely to hire females, let alone promote them.
We lack a support system for women. We have no system of a company run day care centre here, no flexi working hours for women, no “share a day option”. Companies should encourage women to get back to work after their maternity leave, but sadly that is not always the case.
There was a very funny incident several years back. A client visited from Chennai, only to find that at that given time, only women were present in the office! The look on his face was priceless and I remember him telling us, “This is the first office I have seen where there are only women!”
In another case, more recently a client refused to negotiate on a shipment which he was seeking complete demurrage waiver with us “women” and insisted on meeting “someone who had decision making powers (read a Man)! My father sportingly did the needful and jokes about it. They don’t feel satisfied till they are assured a “man” is in charge then only they feel in capable hands.
Another client wanted to fix a deal and said, "your company name is good –but what if something goes wrong –who is responsible?” After meeting our Operations Head they felt satisfied that if something goes wrong a “man” is there to handle matters!
No matter the capability, a man is always apparently strong and capable!
While women are not allowed in ports after dark for safety reasons, it’s a marked change from 30 years back where people would be puzzled why a woman wanted to visit the port in the first place. Getting a port pass would be even more of a challenge.
Our industry laments the fact that we are unable to attract the talent as we are an invisible industry. While speaking to a class of students in their first year of their MBA, I asked for a show of hands for how many of them would take up a career in shipping. Not a single hand went up, and honestly, I wasn't surprised.
There's a lack of awareness of shipping as a career in itself. People not having any connections to shipping believe that sailing is the only option. I tried explaining to them how vast the industry is: from careers at sea, shore-working at ports, terminals, liners, freight forwarders, clearing agents, logistics etc. In India, there is a lack of unity to promote the industry-each association has their own agenda and like to do things separately. If we all join hands, there is so much more that we can do.
We need to have more role models for women and the media also has a large role to play in this. This is where WISTA comes in place. An organisation for Women in Shipping, WISTA is in 40 countries, and we have friends in so many countries. We meet and learn from each other.
We have some fantastic role models such as our President Karin Orsel, Ms Katherina Stanzel – Managing Director Intertanko and in India our very own Vinita Venkatesh who is group advisor, Krishnapatnam Port.
Internationally WISTA is 43 years old and is doing great work. Speaking for India specifically, despite being just 5 years old, the response to the work we have done is overwhelming. We have been conducting seminars, and training programmes on varied topics ranging from marketing, finance, arbitration, customs procedures and so on and CFS/Port visits and networking events to enable women to get the opportunities and exposure required.
Most importantly WISTA India is providing a platform for the women in the Maritime Industry. When members of WISTA say they have benefited and the Gentlemen applaud our work - it is rewarding enough for us!
We believe in leading from the back and letting our work speak for us. WISTA India already has 100+ members all over India (2016). The aim and objective of WISTA are to mentor, educate and encourage networking among our members.
The events give our Members the opportunity not only to meet and interact with other women in the Shipping & Logistics Industry, but it is also a great networking platform as well. We have a variety of professionals in WISTA ranging from Lawyers to Media Professional Forwarders, Ship-owners, and even a Luxury Yacht Broker!
The benefits our WISTA members receive are an International network, business relationships, improving members competence, sharing knowledge, mentoring, friendship, encourage cooperation among neighbouring countries, we can and should learn from each other, and network with each other.
In India, we have subchapters in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Mundra, and Cochin.
Coming back to the industry, and as I have said earlier, we need to encourage people to look for the right “person” for the job rather than the right “man” for the job.
There are specific challenges for female seafarers: young cadets approach me very often for help as they are not getting placed while their male classmates were being placed. As you can see, there, unfortunately, is a misconception for female cadets because of safety issues that come along with society. Several companies have a no female cadet policy to protect themselves from claims in case of harassment.
And the sad part is that it’s no fault of the female seafarers, but rather a lack of understanding and gender sensitisation. To address this, we, as WISTA, have approached the office of the Director General of Shipping. Our goal to have a diversity charter and implement the same in training institutes.
It’s also a cultural aspect where female cadets don’t actually face any problems of acceptance with a foreign crew, but with an Indian crew.
A senior gentleman once told me that the gaze of Indian people is not good and that there is a natural need to protect the women for them. He said he would not be able to live with himself if a girl placed by him underwent harassment.
The worst is when in some cases the few women on top want that to remain as it is i.e. remain the same way! They don’t want to encourage other women lest their own importance be reduced.
Which is why I, via WISTA, want to ensure that women all over India feel safe, and find this glorious industry safe as well. Safety should not be an issue to deter women from joining this industry, nor should it be a reason for not hiring them. Women can always reach out to us for help at WISTA whenever they need it.
We at ODeX seek to encourage communication between people of all the different parts of the extraordinary industry. As the community portal where over 22,000 people from the industry are connected, we are happy to be the conversation starters.
If you are an industry leader, or you know someone who deserves to be showcased on Vantage Point, write to us on tenaz.cardoz@odex.co
