UN Global Compact states that at our current rate, it will take 131 years before full gender equality is achieved.
According to the report “WEPs Tool 2024 Trends Report: Advancing Gender Equality Amidst Polycrisis” as the world adapts to the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical and converging global crises continue to impact and drive further disparities amongst women and girls around the world. From geopolitical crises taking place on several continents, layered with the growing climate crisis and the rollback of rights for many vulnerable populations, 2023 created an unprecedented number of challenges to solve.
As explained, this report presents the aggregated findings of the self-assessment tool for 2,777 companies across 117 countries for selected indicators from 2 December 2021 to 1 December 2023.
The results cover companies of varying sizes, with more than half being large enterprises and 45 per cent being small- and medium-sized enterprises. The companies come from a broad range of industries from healthcare to financial services.
While women have begun to re-enter the workforce and women’s unemployment rates have almost returned to pre-pandemic levels, globally, significant gaps remain as women face increased burdens from gender inequality at home, domestic violence and non-inclusive or inflexible policies that prevent them from participating fully in the workforce.
Maritime sector
Earlier this month, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez called on the maritime sector to take greater steps to support gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Arsenio Dominguez opened an event (7 March) at IMO Headquarters in London, focusing on the theme, ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress’. Citing a study by IMO and the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA), Dominguez noted that women currently account for only 29% of the overall workforce in the general maritime industry and 20% of the workforce of national maritime authorities in member states. The number of female seafarers is even smaller, with just 2% of approximately two million seafarers worldwide being women.
Note
In 2023, taking all the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) board meetings and technical committees together, women represented 41% of the port professionals participating in the meetings.
Furthermore, in February Cyprus’ Council of Ministers established an annual gender equality in Cyprus’ shipping award, to recognize industry executives contributing to gender equality in the shipping sector.
