Shipping is one of the most heavily male-dominated industries in the world. There is a long way to go before anything like gender parity can be achieved in this sector, but employers are starting to wake up to the need for change, and Nautilus International says is in the vanguard. Thus, the union supports the International Women’s Day #BeBoldForChange theme.
Nautilus is working on many different fronts to help the industry recruit and retain female seafarers.
“We believe that creating a workforce with a higher proportion of women has benefits for all employees: there tends to be a more professional and less ‘macho’ working environment when more women are present, and the overall quality of the workforce is raised because there is a larger talent pool for employers to draw on.” Mark Dickinson, General Secretary, Nautilus International says.
But it’s not as easy as simply agreeing that there should be more women working onboard ships. The factors that are both putting women off from training as seafarers and from staying in the industry long enough to rise through the ranks to captain or chief engineer must be identified and change.
For example, Nautilus has highlighted the unacceptable levels of workplace bullying and harassment in shipping, and has worked with other industry bodies to produce anti-bullying guidelines and training materials for the shipping industry.
“We also recognise that women at sea can be short of role models and peer support – often finding themselves to be the only female crew member on their ship – and we have established the Nautilus International Women’s Forum to assist with this.” Mark Dickinson continues.
A third major issue is that the industry currently loses many highly-skilled employees through its failure to adopt family-friendly working practices or even to implement basic maternity and paternity leave provisions. Nautilus has produced guidance on this and is working with individual employers to come up with thoughtful and creative solutions appropriate to the shipboard working environment.
Of course, there’s much more to do, and Nautilus International further says that they will continue to work to ensure women enjoy the same opportunities at work as their male colleagues.
Find out more by watching the video below
Source: Nautilus International
