Whether it’s London, Tokyo or Manila, many women in the maritime sector are still having to deal with male chauvinism, assert their independence and create their own identity. Not so with Arlene Abuid Paderanga, president of the Asian Institute of Maritime Studies (AIMS) in Pasay City, Metro Manila. She knows who she is, what she can do and where she’s going. That takes character and courage. Ms Paderanga apparently has both in good measure, as we were to find out when we spoke to her recently.
“Aren’t women for men?” she replied when asked what she thought about woman’s place in a male-dominated industry. “A school is a she,” she explained, “It needs to be nurtured by a woman.” Ms Paderanga has been playing the part since 1996, the year after her father and AIMS founder Captain Wilijado Abuid passed away. Established in 1993, AIMS is a fairly small institution with some 3,800 students – about 65% of them enrolled in the marine department and 35% in the business college. Still, running the school is no picnic, even for a woman who holds a Ph.D in education management.
Like most working women, Ms Paderanga has to balance home and career. It’s a juggling act even though she has only one child, a 10-year-old girl, and her ship captain-husband has been rather supportive as AIMS vice-president for academic affairs. “There’s always a problem with home management,” she confessed, “I feel like a pendulum (but) I have to live with it. I have a responsibility.”
Ms Paderanga has a pretty clear picture of where AIMS is headed. “My job is to manage the future,” she told us. By 2018, AIMS is aiming to become a maritime university. In the meantime, she’s making sure that the students have a well-rounded education. Her efforts to highlight art, culture and history and merge them with youth development are admirable. AIMS has just launched the Museo Maritimo. How many give a hoot about museums in the often crassly commercial world of Philippine maritime education?
Oddly enough, Ms Paderanga came from a world that’s detached from things maritime. She studied architecture and industrial design in university. In her late 20s she was the leader of her own musical band. She spent 11 years with the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), followed by a stint with film studio Regal Entertainment. Her variegated background as architect, musician, dancer and actress seems to be serving her well as maritime school boss. “I’m not scared to speak in front of people, and I’m not afraid to be disliked,” said she.
We ended our conversation with Ms Paderanga and left her office with a lasting impression of her. She’s intelligent, plucky and complicated. She may not conform to the conventional feminist idea of a “liberated” woman. Yet, she reminds us of what French existentialist and feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir said in her Le Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex), a book we read and admired as a young man: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”
NOTE: This is an ongoing series focusing on women in the maritime world, which is still very much dominated by men. It is hoped that other women will draw inspiration from their dreams, struggles and achievements. Please search our archives for more portraits of maritime women.
Wow! Yet another inspiring portrait of maritime women. Good to know about Ms Paderanga’s multifaceted personality and her work in the maritime field. “Her efforts to highlight art, culture and history and merge them with youth development…” Kudos to her initiatives in holistic education.
Errr…. just a minor clarification.
Ms. Arlene was not a ballet dancer or a gymnast but she was into cultural and modern dance.
Our notes on our conversation with Ms Arlene indicated so. But thanks for the clarification, Louie. The pertinent sentence has been revised accordingly.
Magaling talaga yang si Madame Arlene..! Dami kong natutunan sa kanya kaya maraming nagmamahal at rumerespeto sa kanya! More power po mam! =)