“Empowering women in the maritime community” is the theme of the 2019 global maritime day by IMO. With this moto, the IMO seeks to raise awareness in the industry of the importance of gender equality, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and to highlight the important contribution that women from all over the world make to the maritime sector.
Although the maritime sector is traditionally a male-dominated sector, IMO has concentrated its efforts to promote gender equality through institutional frameworks to incorporate a gender dimension in IMO policies and procedures, with adopted resolutions that guarantee access to employment and maritime training for women in the maritime sector.
IMO supports the empowerment of women through specific gender scholarships, thus facilitating access to high-level technical training for women in the maritime sector in developing countries.
IMO has also empowered women by supporting the creation of seven regional associations for women in the maritime sector in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands. Access to these regional networks has provided members with a platform to discuss gender issues; and it has also served to strengthen global communication of the maritime sector and achieve better implementation of IMO instruments.
See also “European Union encourages the participation of women in the maritime industry”
Secretary General of the IMO convinced of the importance of empowering women
“Today, the recently renamed IMO Program on Women in the Maritime Sector is increasingly strong: empowering women facilitates economic prosperity, fosters development and growth and benefits all community stakeholders world sea. “said Mr. Kitack Lim, Secretary General of the IMO.
