THE LARGEST SAILING RACE IN THE WORLD
Trieste, 1 - 12 October 2025
Trieste, 1 - 12 October 2025
Barcolana - News01.09.21
#WomenInSailing - Lilli Samer
CFO of Samer&Co. Shipping: “Even we entrepreneurs have a central role, because in our companies we must impose a model: those who shine, who are deserving, must move forward. It is not a question of gender”.
One of the first European women in shipping: Lilli Samer is the CFO of Samer & Co. Shipping, where she has been working since 1983. “When I used to go to conventions in Europe and around the world, I was surrounded only by men, but I soon got used to that; it wasn’t a problem because I have always been convinced that hardships can be overcome with competence. If a woman is competent and knows she is, is professional and knows what she is doing, then the gender issue in the professional field is overcome”.
No sooner said than done: at Samer & Co. Shipping, the proportion of women working for the company has reached 70%: “Ours was never a decisive choice: the company has always been highly meritocratic and this is the result we can observe today, in our context and in our market. Meritocracy has seen to it that women, in many departments, can obtain consistent results, also by relying on what are known as soft skills, such as empathy”.
There are sectors, like the shipping industry, where the idea that resistance and physical strength play a central role, which is why one tends to think of certain roles as strictly men’s: “On this subject I would like to emphasize that things are changing and this is thanks to technology which is a strong ally of gender equality, and is a subject to be valued. There will always exist professions where strength and resistance are oriented towards the male gender, but that must become the exception, not the rule. Technology leads to equality, as does science”.
How does science play a role in gender equality? “I always refer to the job market and to shipping: our world is large and complex, today it requires from us more skills in the STEM area, of scientific and technological disciplines. Like Aidda (Associazione Imprenditrici e Donne Dirigenti d’Azienda) and like Samer&Co. Shipping, we strongly believe in the role of scientific culture and we support the orientation process of young people, also by offering scholarships”.
No sooner said than done: at Samer & Co. Shipping, the proportion of women working for the company has reached 70%: “Ours was never a decisive choice: the company has always been highly meritocratic and this is the result we can observe today, in our context and in our market. Meritocracy has seen to it that women, in many departments, can obtain consistent results, also by relying on what are known as soft skills, such as empathy”.
There are sectors, like the shipping industry, where the idea that resistance and physical strength play a central role, which is why one tends to think of certain roles as strictly men’s: “On this subject I would like to emphasize that things are changing and this is thanks to technology which is a strong ally of gender equality, and is a subject to be valued. There will always exist professions where strength and resistance are oriented towards the male gender, but that must become the exception, not the rule. Technology leads to equality, as does science”.
How does science play a role in gender equality? “I always refer to the job market and to shipping: our world is large and complex, today it requires from us more skills in the STEM area, of scientific and technological disciplines. Like Aidda (Associazione Imprenditrici e Donne Dirigenti d’Azienda) and like Samer&Co. Shipping, we strongly believe in the role of scientific culture and we support the orientation process of young people, also by offering scholarships”.
