“When father died, we followed tradition — the sons got the firm and the daughters got the real estate.”
Shipowner wisdom such as this — related by academics Gelina Harlaftis and John Theotokas in a book about Greek maritime businesses nearly 20 years ago — dominated industry thinking for decades.
The only role reserved for women was as wedding material, around which business alliances were forged.
Arch-rivals Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos provided the best-known examples. By marrying the daughters of Stavros Livanos, the future magnates enhanced their status by entering the most prestigious shipping family of their time.
To be fair, shipping was not unusual in that way. Greek business in general has been an all-male affair for centuries.
Even today, only one of the 25 biggest companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange has a female chief executive.
Measured against such a low bar, Greek shipping companies are trailblazers in gender equality. Women such as Angeliki Frangou have been at the helm of sprawling shipping groups for years.
Such cases were once the exception but they are gradually becoming the norm. Nowadays, female children are trained and educated to inherit shipping companies just as male offspring have always been.
John Angelicoussis actively encouraged his only child Maria — a UK-trained doctor — to join the company in 2008. That gave her 13 valuable years of experience before she took full control of the company when her father unexpectedly died in April this year.
Succeeding across the spectrum
Semiramis Paliou was equally ready to assume responsibility as acting chief executive at US-listed Diana Shipping when her father —Simeon Palios — fell ill with Covid-19 in March 2020.
In a prescient move, she had been named deputy chief executive just five months before, as part of a publicly communicated succession plan. Paliou took over as permanent chief executive in February, even after her father had recovered from coronavirus.
Last but not least, not one but four daughters are set to succeed George Procopiou at the helm of his group of companies.
Female participation is not just growing at ownership level.
Greek women have been expanding their footprint across the shipping spectrum — as general managers, chief financial officers, brokers and analysts.
Glass ceiling
On 22 April, Olga Stavropoulou became the new director general at the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association, in which Paliou serves as chairwoman.
Stavropoulou’s predecessor was an 83-year-old former navy officer who had held the job for nearly 40 years.
Seafaring is a more difficult nut to crack. Greek shipping companies find it hard enough to attract local men as officers — let alone women.
However, some women have begun breaking the glass ceiling.
Angelicoussis company Maran Gas Maritime got its first female captain last year, 35-year-old Iro Gidakou.
A Cypriot-born master mariner, she has a degree in maritime transportation and a masters in shipping and finance.
“Be ambitious, have vision for yourself. Find what you love and want to do,” Gidakou told a virtual summit.
This article is part of a series of stories looking back at the history of Greek shipping, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the country's independence
