Small steps to progress
More generally, it is very often relatively small and easy to implement changes which make big differences to working conditions and workplace cultures.
Successes have included the wider availability of protective clothing on ships that fit women, but many other small changes could have big impacts. Ensuring that bathrooms for women are near where they work in ports and on ships, if that is somewhere like the engine room, can make an enormous difference. Again, the provision of sanitary products on vessels should be a basic workplace requirement rather than an issue.
Small measures like these can have a disproportionate effect in ensuring safer and better working environments. In the same way, changes in onboard cultures really start to take off when more women are present. It makes a dramatic difference if there are four women on a ship rather than just one or two.
Changing attitudes
Sustaining momentum will also rely on ensuring that we, as women in shipping, remain focused on making a difference. Panel discussions on diversity, equality and inclusion are invaluable in moving debate forward, but women in technical and management positions are also fully qualified to join business panels and show how their involvement can benefit industry thinking.
WISTA, with the IMO, has done its bit to help find and promote women speakers across the shipping industry through the Maritime Speakers Bureau platform. My point here is that women also need encouragement from their employers, to make themselves available for such opportunities and to stand up and speak.
Certainly, we must call out incidents where women are prevented from travelling to WISTA conferences by companies that do not recognise the value of learning and gaining
confidence from a member- funded organization committed to equitable opportunities.
The aim is not to ‘replace men’, but to better empower women in ways that create a fairer, discrimination- free environment which improves our industry, and shows that it is changing to attract the new talent it needs for the future.
We know that the challenges ahead are huge. Women in shipping are still often underpaid and, despite being well qualified, do not progress to the top positions as quickly as men. Again, setting aside their progress as seafarers, women working in ports lack standardized job specifications. For a woman, a job change can often involve a lower position and proving oneself to get back to where one started.
Thankfully, awareness is growing, and it is encouraging to see more companies contacting WISTA for guidance on how to improve diversity and inclusion within their organisations.
Ultimately, it is about ensuring the widespread adoption of policies and training that enhance understanding of the benefits and importance of DEI, address biases and create a fairer working environment for all.
To truly start changing behaviours and mindsets, we need to practice what we preach. Words are not enough if we want to bring about real cultural change for the good of the maritime industry and society as a whole.
THE REPORT | DEC 2024 | ISSUE 110 | 133
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