Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
TURKISH ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT ANNUAL MEETING 2025 RESILIENCE AND ADAPTABILITY IN TURBULENT TIMES: A NEW ERA OF MANAGEMENT, Budapest, Macaristan, 2 - 05 Eylül 2025, ss.43, (Özet Bildiri)
This paper presents a critical inquiry of tokenism among women seafarers within the global maritime industry through related existing theories. Maritime industry is a field that remains one of the most male-dominated and hierarchically structured workplaces. Despite continuous inclusion efforts led by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and other stakeholders, women account for only 1.2% of the global seafaring workforce. This underrepresentation highlights deep-rooted structural and cultural barriers that hinder gender equality at sea. Building on Kanter’s (1977) foundational theory of tokenism, this study conducts a narrative review of 31 studies focusing on women in seafaring to critically assess how symbolic inclusion manifests in maritime contexts. The review reveals that women seafarers experience heightened visibility, scrutiny, and exclusionary practices, often leading to professional isolation and identity conflict. These experiences reflect a persistent masculine organisational culture that values conformity over diversity and reinforces heteronormative gender roles. The analysis argues that tokenism in maritime settings might stem from labour supply and therefore is unintentional in most cases. Kanter’s framework, while foundational, requires contextual expansion to address the isolated, high-risk, and hyper-masculine environment of on board life. By integrating insights from gender theory, labour market discrimination, and organisational sociology, this paper provides a theoretically grounded understanding of how tokenism operates in seafaring. It concludes that increasing the number of women at sea is insufficient without simultaneous transformation of the underlying gendered power dynamics and institutional norms that sustain symbolic inclusion. Future research should incorporate intersectional and qualitative approaches to capture the real experiences of women seafarers and inform inclusive policies that move beyond representation towards genuine participation and empowerment.