Virgin Voyages names Female Captain - She is the real Captain Canuck!

[DirtyDawg]

Here is the news article: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/canadian-woman-cruise-captain-virgin-voyages-trnd/index.html

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2019 by DirtyDawg

[leaveitallbehind]

 Very good for her.  But while she may be the first Canadian female to be named Captain of a cruise ship, she is not the first female cruise ship Captain -  RCCL and Celebrity each have had one for a number of years.  Other cruise lines may also have female Captains, but those are two that I am aware of.

Edited June 13, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[evandbob]

I believe Celebrity has just named a 2nd female Captain to join Captain Kate, who will soon transfer to their flagship, The Edge.

[MicCanberra]

Good on the lines for providing a diverse workplace at all ranks/positions. I wish her good fortune.

[chengkp75]

12 hours ago, evandbob said:

I believe Celebrity has just named a 2nd female Captain to join Captain Kate, who will soon transfer to their flagship, The Edge.

I believe this is the same Wendy Williams who was lured away from Celebrity to Virgin.

 

An interesting fact is that there are as many female cruise ship Captains as there are female airline Captains, percentage wise, around 3% in 2016.  There were 9 female cruise ship Captains that year, and 4000 female airline Captains.

 

Also, if you google "female ship Captain" or "first US female ship Captain" you get pages and pages of Captain Kate, while in fact she owes her spot to several predecessors, including the first US woman ocean-going ship Captain, Lynn Korwatch in 1988, or thirty years ago.

 

I fully support women mariners, and have served with a lot, but outside of North America and Europe, I don't see the numbers growing much for cultural reasons, and even in NA and Europe, the unique hardships of the industry don't tend to attract women long term.

[Essiesmom]

Cunard has had one for years also.  EM

[jocap]

And P&O since 2010

[MicCanberra]

I think it is a shame that there is still so much inequality in work areas where gender has no bearing on being able to do the job. I can understand why some professions are more suited to  certain genders and / or body types but these are becoming fewer as technology takes over many parts of the job. Certainly just about every job on a ship can be done by anyone who is qualified /trained.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

I think it is a shame that there is still so much inequality in work areas where gender has no bearing on being able to do the job. I can understand why some professions are more suited to  certain genders and / or body types but these are becoming fewer as technology takes over many parts of the job. Certainly just about every job on a ship can be done by anyone who is qualified /trained.

Absolutely agree, but there just doesn't seem to be the interest in the maritime from women.  Many start out a career, but leave within a couple of years.

[MicCanberra]

It would be hard if wanting a family (and being with them) as well, which is one of the reasons there is a higher drop out rate for women than men.

[leaveitallbehind]

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Certainly just about every job on a ship can be done by anyone who is qualified /trained.

 

And most ship positions are staffed by women.  While the point of this thread recognizes a recent woman's promotion to Captain on a cruise ship - which admittedly still is a rare occurrence - there are many women filling all levels of positions from staff officers to crew on many ships in both ship and hotel operations.   And quite a few are in senior corporate roles as well.  IMO the cruise industry is not one that lags behind with gender neutral staffing.

Edited June 15, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[MicCanberra]

Except, the highest positions are rarely occupied by women. I can not recall women even being more than 10% of senior officers aboard any given ship.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Congratulations to her -- hope she has a long career ahead of her.

[leaveitallbehind]

16 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Except, the highest positions are rarely occupied by women. I can not recall women even being more than 10% of senior officers aboard any given ship.

 

I did say that Captain is rare, but less rare are senior officer staff.  We have been on several RCI / Celebrity cruises with females in the higher staff positions.  As well as in the Hotel staff positions.  I can't say what percentage and would politely question where you are getting that number from? Perhaps some of our more regular contributing maritime members can offer some insight.

[MicCanberra]

5 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

I did say that Captain is rare, but less rare are senior officer staff.  We have been on several RCI / Celebrity cruises with females in the higher staff positions.  As well as in the Hotel staff positions.  I can't say what percentage and would politely question where you are getting that number from? Perhaps some of our more regular contributing maritime members can offer some insight.

From cruises I have been on (40ish), you see the sheet with the senior officers named, usually around 10-12 positions and there is usually only one female if any.