The Gender Equality Foundation advocates an increased participation and representation of women in the maritime sector as the World Maritime Day is observed on 28th of September, and this, since 1978. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has declared this year’s theme as “MARPOL at 50 – Our commitment goes on”. For the unversed, MARPOL refers to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships from operational or accidental causes.

While shipping has historically been a maledominated industry, we may pause and reflect on the role of women for the growth of the maritime industry that will eventually narrow the gender equality gap and benefit the sector considerably. Women make only 1.2% of the global seafarer workforce while the sector provides diverse opportunities such as engineering, navigation, management, and logistics. Despite this, women face the challenge of vast underrepresentation and difficulty accessing training.

This disparity is even more significant in leadership roles. Not until July this year did the U.S. take a historic step in breaking the gender barrier in the U.S. military by nominating Admiral Lisa Franchetti to lead the U.S. Navy, thus making her the first woman to command the service and to become a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 2022, the Royal Navy also nominated the first female admiral to take command. In the African context, there was much hope for a drastic leap in 2022 when Kenya’s special envoy for the blue economy and maritime affairs aspired to head the IMO; if elected she would have been the first African and first woman to lead the organization.

International efforts to minimize gender inequality in the maritime sector have been ongoing. In 1998, the IMO initiated a gender equality program to support women as key maritime stakeholders, and their participation in both shorebased and sea-going posts through high-level technical training. The UN adopted the 18th of May each year as International Day for Women in Maritime, which is in itself a testimony to the gender discrimination in the maritime industry.

The causes for low female representation in the sector are many, including social perceptions which often indicate that such jobs require skills more associated with men. Analyses point out the masculine norms and values, which manifest in the uniform size, space design, and the facilities on board of vessels. Additionally, family and societal pressures often discourage women from choosing the maritime sector as their career. The glass ceiling and systematic gender discrimination against women in the maritime industry are real issues.

Towards a gender equal maritime industry

Research shows that women lack the training and skills to rise to leadership positions in the maritime field. Information of the opportunities within the maritime sector is key to encourage women to pursue higher education qualifications for a career

Moreover, to enable diversity, equality, equity and inclusion in the industry, there is a strong need for advocacy to improve women’s access to maritime training and technology, and promote their advancement to crucial decision-making levels in the marine sector. The Gender Equality Foundation ( GEF ) , founded in Mauritius in 2022, has recently undertaken a national campaign to break the gender biases in various fields in view of addressing patriarchy and engaging men as allies in the gender equality discourse.

The GEF’s key areas of intervention are awareness raising, capacity building, advocacy, partnership and resource mobilization. Through advocacy and awareness raising, the GEF seeks to engage with target audiences in the maritime field to enhance knowledge and information, spawn behavioral change, and increase support, assistance and capacity from stakeholders, especially the menfolk to mainstream gender at all walks of life. Additionally, the GEF aims at working to advocate for changes in perceptions, policies and practices pertaining to genderbased discrimination and structural barriers hindering women from assuming their productive, reproductive and community roles, and promoting increased participation and representation of men in the process of gender mainstreaming at all levels.

The maritime field, which is dominated by men, needs “new thinking” by those at the head of organizations and institutions for the integration of women in the maritime sector at the design and planning of national policies, programs and projects, as well as in the financing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

In line with its mandate, the GEF wishes to advocate for an increased participation and representation of women in the maritime sector.

«The causes for low female representation in the sector are many, including social perceptions which often indicate that such jobs require skills more associated with men.»