As AMSA focuses greatly on gender equity, it notes that the pros of women entering maritime are well known, as they bring a broader range of perspectives and strengths in the workforce and create a greater pool of talent to draw on in the face of a skills shortage.
While the maritime sector is heavily male dominated, increasing the participation of women presents an opportunity for AMSA to lead the industry in promoting greater gender equity.
AMSA’s gender equity action plan establishes a clear pathway for the organisation to achieve gender equity from the inside out and its highlights each win and the women at AMSA making this possible.
Search and rescue mission coordinator Sheridan Howell, and Senior search and rescue officer Cindy-Lee Francis are two of the women at AMSA contributing to this goal. When interviewed recently, Sheridan was quick to encourage other women into the field.
If there are any women that have any doubts about it—I say go for it!
She also added that AMSA is very proactive with women in maritime, while she has also qualified as one of the first aviation SAR [search and rescue] mission coordinators.
I was on the AMSA search and rescue aircraft for just over ten years, then the opportunity came up to work in the operational role. It’s a very diverse role and I thought I would try out for the job— here I am nearly five years later
Cindy-Lee built on this with her views on working in such a diverse team, saying that “we all have a different understanding of how operational environments work, so when we are presented with a problem, we come together as a team to solve it with our different ways of approaching things.’
