Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport of Canada, announced that the country is providing funding over three years to the British Columbia Institute of Technology to deliver a program to increase access to marine training courses for women, Northerners, Inuit and Indigenous people through the Oceans Protection Plan. BCIT and Camosun will also cooperate with various industry partners, marine employers, and Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Disney Cruise Line announced a new initiative to inspire the next generation of female leaders in the maritime industry by funding scholarships to empower girls and young women to pursue careers in the cruise industry.
HR Consulting from Spinnaker Global gathered a group of maritime HR professionals to discuss the challenges and opportunities on gender diversity within this unique industry. Using their 2018 Maritime HR Association salary survey data, HR Consulting provided an overview of the gender pay gap within UK shore-based maritime.
In this video, female EMSA colleagues share their experiences in the context of the IMO’s ‘Empowering women in the maritime community’ theme for 2019. As Manuela Tomassini, Lawyer, said: ‘Excellence is not linked to gender, but opportunities need to be equal’. Speaking about their experiences on board, several EMSA female colleagues call women to follow their dreams and say that with the right tools they can achieve anything.
This year, as always, the annual Day of the Seafarer (DotS) will be celebrated on 25 June. Throughout 2019 there will be a strong emphasis on the importance and value of women within the professional ranks. This year, the campaign hashtag is: #IAmOnBoard. In addition, a more specific and targeted element of the overall campaign will be ‘Make one change’.
‘Use your power to empower’. ‘Say what you’re thinking’. ‘Listen to the ‘yes’ voice in your head’. ‘Believe in yourself’. This was the advice given by various inspiring maritime women sharing their experiences of working in the maritime world at a special event on ‘Women, ports and facilitation’ at IMO Headquarters, London, on 10 April.
Hadiza Bala Usman, the Managing Director at Nigerian Ports Authority commented that ‘women are most disadvantage in the world’ and the world must understand that women matter when it comes to nation building. She stressed the importance of gender equality as a crucial tool for the nation’s building.
Mrs Shaw says that studying for her professional qualifications was a worthwhile career investment, even if it impacted negatively her social life for a short time. Also, she suggests to only focus on the important things and delegate others when necessary. Overall, it is important to ‘work to live not live to work’ she concludes, meaning that it is worth putting family, and friends first as much as possible.
The board of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) announced the allocation of a budget fund of USD 10,000 to develop a Women in Ports Mentoring Program designed to attract, empower and retain female talent in the industry.
Remove structural barriers, build good networks and support quality education to ensure no woman, no girl is left behind in the maritime sector, were some of the themes reiterated by maritime leaders, speaking in WMU International Women’s Conference, on 4-5 April in Malmö, Sweden.
