Maritime UK is joining the global maritime sector to celebrate the inaugural International Day for Women in Maritime. The theme is ‘Training-Visibility-Recognition: Supporting a barrier-free working environment’.

The day celebrates women in the industry. It is intended to promote the recruitment, retention and sustained employment of women in the maritime sector, raise the profile of women in maritime, strengthen International Maritime Organisation’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (gender equality) and support work to address the current gender imbalance in maritime.

To celebrate International Day for Women in Maritime, Maritime UK is launching the brand-new Global Women in Maritime Series. The launch event, ‘What is an Ally?’ is being held in partnership with Women in Maritime Australia and features a raft of speakers from both sides of the world. This series will open up a global dialogue, which will share best practices, lessons learned and their unique experiences from being Women in Maritime on either side of the world.

Over the past few years, the sector has seen progress which has resulted in the International Women in Maritime Day being internationally recognised by the International Maritime Organisation.

In 2018, Maritime UK established the Women in Maritime programme to address gender fairness, equality and inclusion within the maritime sector. A Taskforce was created to bring together leaders from across the maritime sector to identify practical steps to increase the number of women in maritime, and crucially within senior roles across its shipping, ports, marine and business services industries.

In 2019, the Minister for Transport released the Maritime 2050 People Route Map which celebrated the work of Women in Maritime and called for Maritime UK to expand on these foundations to develop Diversity in Maritime, which celebrated 2 years since being launched on 6 May.

The creation of the International Day for Women in Maritime shows a recognition of the role that women play in the sector and the progress that has been made since the Women in Maritime Network was first established.

On International Women’s Day 2022, the Women in Maritime Network launched the Menopause Hub, a free online resource, which has been designed to share good practice, polices, case studies and self-care guidance to assist employees experiencing menopause and employers supporting employees going through the menopause.

Get Involved

The Women in Maritime Network, part of the Diversity in Maritime programme, holds regular meetings throughout the year, the next is scheduled for Thursday 22 September. If organisations, women working in the maritime sector and allies wish to get involved they can do so here.

For organisations that want to break the bias, they can sign the Women in Maritime Pledge. Signatories to the pledge will be making clear their support for creating positive change within their respective organisations, and collectively, across the UK maritime sector.  If you wish to be recorded as a signatory to the pledge, please sign the pledge.

The Diversity in Maritime Programme is sponsored by Stena Line and Port of Aberdeen.

Robert Courts, Minister for Maritime said:

“Women have made and continue to make an invaluable contribution to the global maritime sector. It is critical that we recognise and celebrate their achievements on this inaugural day.

“We want the sector to be open to everyone, and we want to put the policies in place to support and promote women to work and progress in the industry. I am delighted to see the global cross collaboration between Women in Maritime Australia and Maritime UK to share experiences and best practice.

“Looking ahead I am and excited to see what the maritime industry can do to promote diversity and help women achieve their potential.”

Chrissie Clarke, Head of Diversity and Operations, Maritime UK said:

“Maritime UK is delighted to launching our new Global Women in Maritime series with Women in Maritime Australia today to shine a light on gender equality across the globe. Making progress on diversity and inclusion is a global challenge, and as a global sector, we are really looking forward to seeing how we can make quicker progress together.”

Sue Terpilowski, Co-Chair, Diversity in Maritime Taskforce/Chair, Women in Maritime Network said:

“Women’s equality cannot wait. We are delighted to collaborate with the IMO to ‘support a barrier-free working environment’ and look forward to a continued dialogue with Women in Maritime Australia.”