A female deck officer has accused a shipping firm of sexism after being refused a job interview because she ‘would be better off working on a cruise ship’.
A former student at Fleetwood Nautical Campus claims she was the victim of sex discrimination after the shipping firm refused her an interview. Sophia Walker, who had qualified as a deck officer after completing courses at the college, was invited back to the campus along with 10 male candidates for the deck officer job interview.
She says the only reason she did not get even the opportunity of an interview with the company was clearly because she was a woman. Miss Walker says emails between a college tutor, Jonathan Ward, and Brian Phipps of Shipping company clear why she was not granted an interview – namely that the company did could not offer the right on-board environment in this case and would not take any female staff on.
She says it shows the kind of discrimination women still face in male-dominated industries. Miss Walker feels the company and the college should look into the way the matter was handled.
However according to reports, the shipping company insists it does not discriminate against women, says it employs more than 50 female staff in various roles and was only guilty in this instance of a poorly worded email which did not explain the situation fully.
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Reference: Blackpool Gazette, Daily Mail Online
I wonder, if she had been chosen and anyone of the male candidates would have claimed the very same, namely that she was chosen only out of the fact that she is female, what are the chances this would have brought the same attention and reporting?
There is 1 opening, 11 candidates, means 10 go out without a job. It is plain simple as that.