The first Iranian lady who officially began her service aboard a commercial ship on April 11, 2021 in Feridoonkenar Port was born in 1999. Mahkia Sadeqi Monfared, better known in media as Kowsar, is from Zanjan.
She is the first Iranian lady who began he career on a commercial ship on the Caspian Sea and experienced a 35-day international working voyage and has thus far gone on two missions to Actau Port in Kazakhstan.
Focusing on the professional challenges, Kowsar said, "In sailing classes I was the only female student and the atmosphere was too masculine. I was generally looked at in a way that I felt I did not belong there. But I spent all my efforts to prove that I was not different with the men in those classes, and that women can be sailors as well."
She is now trying to pass courses for becoming an officer in unlimited tonnage ocean carriers, sailing far away from Iran.
Speaking about the issue, she said, "The female Iranian officers on ships below 3,000 tons, who are not many, are unfortunately not given the captain’s position in ships."
According to the statistics of the Iranian Ports and Sailing Organization 347 women sailors are now working as fisher women, general sailors, and sailors on deck board of the passenger ships, only a few of whom are serving as officers. But the presence of women in commercial ships is breaking the norms, and that is the reason why Kowsar’s efforts has been highlighted.