The Power of Women in Stara Rzeźnia. Three Generations, Two Worlds, One Sea

Nearly 80 representatives of the maritime industry appeared on Friday (6 June) at the Euroregion Stara Rzeźnia Culture Centre in Szczecin to jointly create a space for conversation, inspiration and action. Women representing three generations took the floor, sharing their professional experiences. The meeting was organised by the Association of Women in the Maritime Sector "Women Beyond Horizon", founded on 5 March this year.

The president of the association, Aleksandra Turbaczewska, who is the proxy of the general director of Polska Żegluga Morska, at the beginning presented this young organization, outlined its goals and what the women who create it have already achieved in just three months.

– We have embraced this need for cooperation, for getting to know each other as our goal – she said. – We want to show how bravely we carry out our duties in various positions, because the industry we represent is very broad, very wide and not everyone knows about it. Today is already a time when we are well prepared in terms of content, we are good specialists, each of us knows what we are doing and I think we have enough strength within us to be able to talk about it loudly.

The first panel discussion entitled "First waves: the courage of female pioneers" was led by Rana El Banna, and her interlocutors were women who paved the way in the maritime industry: a long-time activist of the Maritime and River League, founder and former rector of the University of Economics and Tourism, godmother of several PŻM ships, initiator of the Odra Flis Elżbieta Marszałek, president of the CSL Group Laura Hołowacz and the captain of the great navigation Danuta Barcikowska.

Kamila Zimińska, in turn, talked to today's leaders of the maritime sector. They were: Patrycja Stankiewicz and Marta Rojewska from PŻM, Aneta Szreder-Piernicka from the Szczecin and Świnoujście Seaports Authority and Joanna Maj from the Polish Register of Shipping. The panel was titled: "Storms of everyday life: the voice of female leaders".

The third part was led by Krystyna Pohl, a journalist and author of maritime books, who first spoke about her experiences. The protagonists of the panel entitled "On the horizon: dreams and beginnings" were representatives of the youngest generation of women taking their first professional steps in the maritime industry - Marta Sakhman and Zuzanna Raff from the Maritime University of Technology in Szczecin and Aleksandra Wolna from Kongsberg Maritime.

Participants of all panels confirmed that the most valuable things are: support from another woman, openness and courage in pursuing goals.

The meeting was made more pleasant by a performance by Szczecin dancers from the Sahib Disa group.

Partners and sponsors of the event were Elektryka Morska, Unity Line and CSL. Honorary patronage was provided by Anna Bańkowska – Vice-Marshal of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, as well as the West Pomeranian Maritime Cluster. “Kurier Szczeciński” assumed media patronage of the meeting. ©℗

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Photo: Elżbieta KUBOWSKA