Persistence pays off for first female gondolier

Alexandra Hai has just won a 10 year battle to become the first female gondolier in Venice. (Sunday Times 1/4/07)

She failed the first test because of a bad manoeuvre, but won an appeal on the grounds there were no women in the examining commission.
In the second and third tests she bumped into another gondola in choppy water and failed to keep the boat steady when she met a motor boat coming the other way. She feels there was bias with the all male Venice Gondola Association against her.

At that stage she said she was giving up and leaving Venice. If you Google “Alexandra Hai” you‘ll see plenty of comments agreeing with this decision.

Then she took a job with a hotel who asked her to transport their customers. In October she was stopped and fined but has just won the right to continue with her gondola. She has experienced insults and rude gestures as other gondoliers pass by.

Being on a gondola is “magical emotional moment for me” she stated so she obviously loves her work.

She demonstrates many of the qualities people often need to get to the work they love.

• Self belief- despite failing the test 3 times she continued to believe she could be a gondolier
• Persistence- she kept trying- for 10 years!
• Willing to put up with public humiliation, being branded a failure , and as an "oddity"
• Willingness to try alternative options to get to where she wanted

City Hall plans to appeal to a higher court but Alexandra starts back on the gondolier to-day.

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