The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will sponsor a number of women from developing countries to follow a new maritime leadership programme, as part of the Organization’s ongoing work to support gender diversity in the maritime sector.
Specifically, IMO’s Women in Maritime programme will support women from developing countries to take part in the SheEO leadership scheme. The programme aims to boost women with the leadership skills and confidence to take a seat at the shipping decision-making table.
The leadership programme will be fully launched by International Women’s Day (IWD), 8 March 2021. The 2021 IWD theme “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world” celebrates the efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted women within the maritime sector, as the Maritime HR Association shared their gender pay gap statistics for 2020 with WISTA UK members, according to which female representation in the industry accounted for a 42% female workforce globally and a 52% in the UK specifically.
The initiative in support of women was announced during the first Maritime SheEO conference, in a virtual space on 23 November, to debate the theme “Diversity and Sustainability: The Business Case”.
Speaking at the opening session, IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim highlighted the importance of female representation and diversity in the maritime sector and beyond, adding that
Empowering women fuels thriving economies across the world, spurs growth and development, and benefits everyone working in the global maritime community and beyond.
Helen Buni, representing IMO’s Women in Maritime programme, stated that the IMO sponsorship would enable the selected women from government administrations to benefit from the leadership scheme, which will include training, mentoring and networking opportunities.
In addition, the Women in Maritime programme aims to help Member States achieve the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”.
The IMO Secretary-General Lim concluded that
We must use this opportunity to rebuild from this crisis inclusively, equitably and sustainably, and put women’s leadership and contributions at the heart of resilience and recovery. People are at the heart of this industry, at every level. We must ensure we manage the sector in such a way that we utilize all talent across the gender divide.
