Gender Bias in the Perception of Outstanding Leadership in the Maritime Industry

While female participation in work places has increased over the last decades, women only make up 1–2 % of the 1.25 million seafarers worldwide. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labor Organizations are making a concerted effort to promote women into the maritime industry. Still, there are barriers in the maritime industry that hinder female employment, particularly in leadership positions. The primary aim of the paper is to investigate whether there is a significant difference in implicit beliefs about leadership between males and females. In addition to this, it seeks to evaluate whether the aforementioned difference is within the context of masculine versus neutral work domains. The findings indicated that employees in the maritime industry might have lower expectations towards female leaders thereby indicating the presence of gender bias in the evaluation of leaders.