Navigating Leadership: An Explorative Study of Women Leaders in the Shipping Industry

Sammanfattning

This thesis explores and examines how women with leadership positions within the shipping industry describe and make sense of their leadership experiences and practices in a male dominated industry. Based on eight semi structured interviews, this study uses a qualitative and explorative research design. The analysis is supported by Acker's (1990, 2006) concept of gendered organizations and inequality regimes together with feminist leadership theory. The findings show that leadership was described as both a formal responsibility and a relational practice. The participants emphasized trust, communication, calmness and safety, while also trying to navigate hierarchy, authority and final decision making. Gendered workplace conditions formed experiences of legitimacy through assumptions about professional competence, physical strength, subtle sexism, observation and the pressure to prove oneself. Informal networks between women were described as important spaces for advice, recognition, support and belonging. However the informal networks also carried ambivalence that was formed by comparison and competition. This thesis contributes by showing how women leaders within the shipping industry navigate leadership, legitimacy and support within a male dominated and hierarchical industry.