We listened to your wishes on our social media, so in this week's post we are bringing you insights on female engagement in the marine industry. In 2006 the Maritime Labour Convention formed gender neutrality within the industry by excluding specific textual terms which would, for instance, showcase that seafarer can be exclusively men.
Additionally, in 1988 IMO founded their IWMS program, Integration of Women in the Maritime Sector. Within the program, a round table was held in Malmö in 2019, on the topic of empowering women in the marine industry.
Women in the marine industry need to have a specific academic start as well. In a few previous blog posts we mentioned the jobs and academic backgrounds which are included in the marine industry. Until recently, some courses like mechanical engineering were classified as „male“ courses, but with the society's development and digitalization, unjustified and predetermined terms are being deleted and women are present in every aspect of the marine industry. Women are successfully employed and leading sales, distribution, engineering, design, management and much more within the marine industry. The experience of women is highlighted in the book Maritime Women: Global Leadership.
Kitada and colleagues (2019) in their paper on empowering women in the marine industry presented a few initiatives and academic papers which point out to potential problems and solutions. Dr. Isabel Lirola-Delgado highlights how important women are in marine safety strategy. By actively including women in marine safety strategy, development is achieved towards the 5th sustainable development goal (SDG). This is achieved through work on safety, compliance with international standards and consistent application.
Tae-eun and colleagues (2019) in their paper are shifting the focus to technological advancements and automatization which would contribute to the marine industry. Authors are considering the automatization of work, which will consequently reduce required man force, but will potentially attract women to new work positions in the marine industry. New positions will not gender discriminate and will physically remove gender barriers. These will additionally change the work culture within the industry.
The authors of the paper suggest a few initiatives for frequent female applications in the marine industry:
1) The marine industry and regulatory bodies need to embrace a holistic approach to gender prejudice and form a physical infrastructure that allows work to anyone
2) Promotion on awareness on gender re-defined work positions
3) Boosting research on positive impact of gender neutrality within the marine industry
Women find themselves on key positions like general managers of the Cannes Yachting Festival, marina chains, super yacht production facilities and much more. Although the overall percentage of women in the marine industry is still small, discrimination is actively and systematically resolved, while women are successfully building careers and forming new opportunities.
P.S. Are you a student and/or young women who would like to make an impact in the marine industry, but don't know where to start? Contact us via the contact form or through social media. We will listen to your wishes and experience and together find a solution to include you within Croatia's marine industry.
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