It seems as a woman, you will be questioned, your knowledge will be doubted, and your abilities will be mistrusted until you prove yourself. In my experience, that was something that happened over, and over, and over.


to achieve a better dynamic. But what about the girls on the front line, looking for work and experiencing this from the other side?


We spoke to several women working on deck and a few in the ER (honestly they’re harder to find!). Sadly all of them relayed the same story – when they started out most agents and people they encountered told them “be a stew”. And then throughout their careers, all of them have dealt with gender discrimination, and as mate Angie* put it, “chronic mansplaining.” It seems as a woman, you will be questioned, your knowledge will be doubted, and your abilities will be mistrusted until you prove yourself. In my experience, that was something that happened over, and over, and over.


So what can we do to keep improving diversity in yachting? Angie feels crew agents need to take more responsibility and “take green female deck crew more seriously! For greenies, crew agencies are usually their only gate way, so push forward more women into the deck roles, support them, [agents] are usually their only way into the industry!” Even last year Angie was still being pushed by agents to take a stewardess role and told us there are now only two agents she will contact when she is looking. (Proud to say I’m one of them… )


This was echoed by Captain Molly* who almost gave up on her yachting career after being told by agents that stewardessing was the easier route, and after a few years of fighting to prove herself, took the summer out to get back to her roots and race small sail yachts. “This reminded me of why I chose this career, the parts of the industry I loved, and how to deal with the parts I didn’t.” Amy went on to become a skipper on superyachts permanently. Sometimes a little step back and regroup is all we need.


Deck and Safety Officer Kaitlyn* thinks we need to support groups “like She of the Sea


[and] be vocal about how awesome our jobs are, there are so many talented women who can share the information about how to get into the industry.” This is a great point, and SOTS was invited to present with Young Professionals in Yachting UK only recently to push that across.


I think we can see from the past few years that the industry is adapting (yay!) but it’s important we stay focused and continue pushing for change. Don’t stop now.


Co-founder of SOTS, Natasha Ambrose, told us “From my experience in the industry and through the work we do at She of the Sea, there are several things we can still do. The first being we can begin to adopt a more active balance in the visualisation and representation in our marketing materials to show more women in deck and engineering roles. The second is that women are significantly under-represented in technical and engineering careers such as those in the Maritime sector, and the gender divide is clearly seen in school subject choices.


It is widely accepted that we will face a talent shortage of skilled workers in the maritime sector and yachting industry, one of the things we can do to counteract this is actively inspire more females to choose this path. Last year we took part in the 1851 Trust Maritime Roadshows for girls which is aimed to inspire them to take more STEM subjects and introduces girls to positive and inspiring female maritime role models.”


All of us seniors in the industry have a duty of care to the juniors. We have a responsibility to educate, nurture, and mentor the crew of tomorrow. Our goal should be to encourage and help these crew develop their skillsets, regardless of gender, age, orientation or race. And let’s not forget, it’s not just about attracting them into yachting, it’s keeping them. I think it’s best we let Jenny Matthews wrap this up. “The industry is ready for this,


things are changing, education is happening and its coming from the top as much as it is from the bottom.


We must understand that change doesn’t happen overnight and that it’s a journey, it takes time and it take compassion and understanding. There are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things.


And also let’s remember that things are the way they are because of a system that we have all grown up in, we change the system, we change the outcome. Big task but how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time…”


DIVERSITY & INCLUSION SIGN THE PLEDGE


The pledge is a commitment by She of the Sea and signatory


organisations to work together to build a diverse and inclusive working industry.


Assign


Nominate a senior employee to monitor performance in respect of the pledge.


Report


Capturing diversity data is vital to establish a baseline and measure progress.


Hiring Conduct fair recruitment


processes. Take active steps such as balanced short lists, refine the way roles are advertised.


Visual Representation Adopt a more active balance in marketing materials, images, branding. Ensure voices are equally represented at events and on panels.


For more details visit www.sheofthesea.com/ industrypledge


36 | AUTUMN 2020 | ONBOARD


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227  |  Page 228