Shipping will only be able to tackle the great challenges of decarbonisation and automation if it promotes the role of women, the International Maritime Organization secretary general said on Thursday.
Kitack Lim told a conference marking International Day for Women in Maritime that bosses need to foster better workplace culture and attitudes to tackle the industry’s significant gender imbalance.
“We celebrate the incredible achievement of women in the maritime industry while recognising the challenges that still lie ahead,” he said.
Women make up just 1.2% of the global seafarer workforce, according to a 2021 report, but they remain under-represented in all areas of the industry.
“This needs to change,” Lim said at the opening of a two-day conference at the IMO’s London headquarters.
“As shipping goes through a transformation tackling climate change through decarbonisation and undergoes digitalisation and automation at a rapid rate, we need the best talent.
“That means embracing diversity and ensuring that any barriers to participation are brought down.”
Lim said times are changing but things need to accelerate as the industry competes for the best talent.
He cited his travels to Asia and Africa and said his experiences there suggested significant advances in many parts of the world to promote the role of women. But he said there is a recognition that more could be done.
The IMO’s 2021 Women in Maritime Survey found more females in shipowning companies than in any other sector, but they still made up only 34% of the workforce.
Maritime associations had the next highest proportion of women (16%). Women made up 28% of company boardrooms, according to the survey.
The 2021 Bimco/International Chamber of Shipping seafarer workforce report found that 24,059 women were working as seafarers, less than 2% of the total.
Even those numbers represented a 46% increase from a similar study six years earlier. Most of those women were employed in the cruise ship sector.
Lim hopes this year’s conference, the second, will be a milestone in efforts to promote diversity and equality.
The IMO has opened nominations for its first gender equality award, with the winner due to be announced at next year’s event.
The award is designed to recognise “significant contributions to advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women in the maritime sector”.
