Spinnaker explores the evolving landscape of gender pay gap in the maritime industry, highlighting trends across the UK, EU, and globally.
As explained, since 2016, the shore-based salary survey produced by Spinnaker’s Maritime HR Association has been collecting gender data alongside salaries, allowances and bonuses. This information allows them to calculate the Maritime Gender Pay Gap in various locations.
The maritime picture in the UK
The 2024 salary survey reflects data for over 2,500 maritime employees in the UK.
In 2024 the UK Mean Gender Pay Gap (for all sectors) was 13.8% compared to the Maritime HR Association Mean Pay Gap of 34.19%. Overall, there has been a gradual decrease in the Gender Pay Gap within the UK maritime industry, since reporting began in 2017 where the gap stood at 46.4%.
However, in 2024 Spinnaker saw the percentage of female employees in all pay quartiles decrease when compared to other years.
The maritime picture in the EU
The 2024 Maritime HR Association salary survey reflects data for nearly 6,000 maritime employees in EU member states.
Looking at the gender pay gap for EU member states, the EU Mean Gender Pay Gap from the Spinnaker survey data is 35.96%, similar to what is reported in the UK. At the lower pay quartile 60% of employees are female, while at the upper quartile, only 15% are female.
The Maritime picture globally
Of the 35,000 maritime employees included in the 2024 salary survey, 39% were women.
The maritime industry globally has seen female representation at the Head of/Director and Executive Leadership Team reduce.
More than half of employees working in HR, Secretarial and Administration, Marketing and Communications are women, whereas in Chartering and Freight Trading, Newbuildings and Technical and Marine, women represent less than 20% of the workforce.
