Celebrating the achievements of women in maritime and identifying areas of improvement for gender balance.
“Training-Visibility-Recognition: Supporting a barrier-free working environment” is the theme of the first International Day for Women in Maritime with the aim to highlight and celebrate the achievements of women in maritime and achieve gender balance. IMO is marking the occasion with a virtual symposium, the release of a women in maritime report and a social media campaign.
On the occasion, IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said that although there is still a gender imbalance in maritime, times are changing. While significant progress has been made so far and there is much to celebrate, there is also the need for more progress to be made.
"It is recognized that diversity in maritime benefits the entire sector. Women in maritime are working everywhere to support the transition to a decarbonized, digitalized and more sustainable future. Let’s take this opportunity to celebrate the many women who are contributing to the future of maritime: maintaining an engine on a ship, running a company, drawing up a contract, surveying a vessel, or chairing an IMO committee meeting".
Amid a constantly increasing discussion on the importance of gender diversity and inclusion across all sectors, #BreakTheBias was the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day in March.
On May 18, IMO launched the inaugural IMO-WISTA International (Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association Limited) survey results. The report contains information about the proportion and distribution of women working in the maritime sector, based on information provided by IMO Member States and the maritime industry. The survey uses data from IMO Member States and the maritime industry to benchmark the current gender balance of the maritime workforce and indicate areas of success and those where more progress is needed.
According to data from the newly- published 2021 IMO-WISTA Women in Maritime Survey Report, gender diversity in maritime is extremely fragmented by sector. The data demonstrates that women account for only 29% of the overall workforce in the general industry and 20% of the workforce of national maritime authorities in Member States.
"Benchmarking the current state of the sector is vital to measure results. The Women in Maritime Survey 2021 shines a spotlight on areas in which IMO Member States and the wider maritime industry are performing well – and, more importantly, those where additional attention, resources and encouragement are needed. By actively empowering women with the requisite skills, maintaining a barrier free working environment, we create truly sustainable systems of gender equality."
…IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said.
- The survey contributes to initiatives to support the Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality. The report highlights great variation amongst individual sub-sectors.
- The survey was conducted in 2021 through online surveys sent to IMO Member States and companies.
- The survey is one of the activities under the 2020 IMO-WISTA Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on promoting greater diversity and inclusion through enhanced cooperation activities in the maritime sector.
- According to data gathered from Member States, search and rescue teams in national maritime authorities accounting for significantly fewer women staff (just 10%) as compared to female diplomats (33%) and training staff (30%).
- Industry data shows that women seafarers make up just 2% of the crewing workforce and are predominately found in the cruise sector, while in shipowning companies, they made up 34% of the workforce.
“As a first snapshot, this survey gives telling evidence of how much work still needs to be done. But it also shows us where there are a few bright spots. The maritime industry can see for itself which sectors are pushing ahead with diversity, and which are not.”, WISTA International President Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou added.
IMO and WISTA intend to produce future Women in Maritime survey reports to measure progress and serve as guidance for appropriate allocation of resources and capacity building by various stakeholders. Other initiatives under the IMO-WISTA MoU include developing a database of female experts in a wide range of maritime subjects who are available for speaking engagements. This will contribute towards more diverse panels at maritime conferences and conferences beyond the sector.
The report mentions that of the 45 Member States who provided data, 41 have already introduced measures to ensure gender equality within their recruitment and promotion process. Some of these measures do not involve any financial resources, such as the neutral use of language in job applications or having a diverse interview panel. At the same time, half of the responding Member States said they ensure pay equality for positions, which is an important step for retention of staff in the maritime industry.
Among the many interesting findings, the report concludes that more work also needs to be done to encourage women to enter into technical roles within the maritime industry. The survey data found that 14% of staff in those core roles are female – a long way away from a balanced gender split. The maritime industry needs to be made attractive to women throughout their career stages – with clear opportunities to develop from junior positions to leading figures within the industry.
Furthermore, a study done by consultancy KPMG among 3,000 professional women has shown that “86% of women report when they see more women in leadership, they are encouraged they can get there themselves. 83% of working women know the steps they take in business today will help set the stage for future generations of women in business. And 76% of working women plan to personally take active steps to help other women advance in their careers.” This clearly shows that given the opportunity, women can and want to make a change to develop an inclusive and equitable maritime industry.
Source: Safety4Sea