Women rising in the port industry: a multimethod approach to career barriers

Despite an increase in the number of women employed in the port industry in recent years, women in this field encounter significant challenges that not only affect their business lives but also hinder their career advancement. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the views of women working in ports regarding these challenges and rank the barriers hindering their careers. Adopting a multimethod approach, the study used both narrative analysis and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as research methods. For the qualitative analysis, the barriers identified from the interviews were coded in accordance with the relevant literature, while their importance levels were determined by quantitative analysis. The barriers were grouped under four main categories as: male co-workers, harassment, port conditions, and feminine. While the interview results suggested that male co-worker related barriers were the most important, the Fuzzy AHP analysis indicated that harassment-related barriers were the most significant. Through in-depth qualitative and quantitative analysis and ranking of the data based on women’s real-life stories, this study presents novel and comprehensive findings regarding the career barriers facing women port workers.