Making the opening speech of the workshop, Prof. Dr. Şebnem Helvacıoğlu expressed the significance and historical background of March 8, International Women’s Day. Afterwards GEMİMO Chairman of the Board of Directors Feramuz Aşkın shared statistics regarding female-male employment ratios and emphasized the importance of women in the maritime sector.
Pointing out that there has been a great transformation with the entry of women to the sector, our Faculty of Maritime Dean Prof. Dr. Özcan Arslan reminded that women had great success in maritime. He stated that the achievements of women also set example for new graduates, thus increasing the employment rate of women.
“The future is wide open for women mariners”
Stating that the future is wide open for women mariners, our Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Lütfiye Durak Ata emphasized that women in the maritime sector will carry the sector further in the 21st century. Noting that maritime studies fit into a very broad framework from design to engineering, from law to management and various fields of research, Ata said that with the developments in the field of informatics and communication, artificial intelligence has come to the fore and actually suprassed physical power, and that with this approach, women's power will emerge even more.
Piri Reis University Rector Prof. Dr. Oral Erdoğan mentioned the rights given to women, the value of women and women in the maritime sector, and drew attention to the need to commemorate the women who struggled. Oral said that the top students in Piri Reis University Maritime Faculty are mostly women students and noted that there is a significant number of women chief engineers and captains in the seas.
In the panel held after the opening speeches, the contribution of women working at sea to their profession was discussed and evaluated in sociological, psychological, legal and professional terms.
