Women account for approximately 20% of the workforce in national maritime authorities and governing bodies, highlighting a significant under-representation within the sector.
These figures were shared by Michelle Scipo-Hosang, a member of the Women in Maritime Steering Committee.
“Women in maritime represent 2 percent of seafarers world wide are women, 2 percent, considering 90 percent of trade is by sea women are just a very small fraction of that. And to bring more women into the industry, for us to be seen we need to celebrate it by, and IMO in particular established World Maritime Day in 2022 for just that to spotlight women in maritime and to actually close the gap.”
The theme of this year’s International Day for Women in Maritime is: From Policy to Practice: Powering maritime Excellence.
Lead of the Women in Maritime Steering Committee, Myrna Ellis-Medina, provided insight into what this theme represents and its importance for advancing gender inclusion and excellence within the maritime sector.
“From policy to practice means we want to see implementation, we want to see something different happening. We want to see these initiatives and these ideas you have for women actually roll out in practice. The maritime, empowering maritime excellence talks about when we say powering we mean powering, the maritime excellence speaks to the safety, security and the sustainability of the maritime sector.”
On May 18 the global community will celebrate International Day for Women in Maritime, celebrating women in the industry, promoting gender equality, while advocating for recruitment, retention and sustained employment of women in the maritime sector