The International Maritime Organization and Women's International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA International) plan to survey women's opinions of the industry in an effort to build a more diverse workforce.

The survey, entitled Women in Maritime, is intended to help the groups "build a picture of diversity and gender equality" in shipping following the two organisations' 2020 memorandum of understanding to promote those issues.

"Having comparable data is a key component when creating programmes and proposing policies that will increase the participation of women in maritime," WISTA International president Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou said.

'Essential step'

"It is an essential step forward in creating a more diverse and inclusive environment in our sector. With our global reach we can amplify the strength of this survey to show real results and back our drive towards an inclusive maritime sector."

The IMO and WISTA International intend to repeat the survey every three years.

In addition, the two aim to develop a database of female experts in maritime subjects available for speaking engagements in the hope of diversifying panels and the sharing of best practices between the IMO's regional Women in Maritime Association and WISTA International's national chapters.

"Diversity in maritime matters. Empowering women fuels thriving economies across the world, spurs growth and development and benefits everyone working in the global maritime community and beyond," IMO secretary general Kitack Lim said.

Links to the survey, hosted on research.net, can be found on the IMO and WISTA International websites.

There is one survey for IMO member states and another for companies and non-governmental organisations.