26/09/2019 01:48 PM
World Maritime Day 2019
As World Maritime Day shines a light on gender equality in maritime, creating more opportunities for women may be the answer to Australia’s seafarer shortage.
The contributions of women working in maritime are being recognised around the world today as part of World Maritime Day 2019 (26 September).
This year, the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) annual event focuses on empowering women in the maritime community and is the culmination of a year of events raising awareness of gender equality in the maritime sector.
Historically, maritime has been a male-dominated industry and the IMO is making a call for change.
Australia has 5,646 seafarers working in its maritime industry but just 5 per cent of those working at sea are female.
These findings in Maritime Industry Australia’s 2018 Seafaring Skills Census shows an industry with huge opportunity to fully represent Australia’s workforce demographics.
However, initiatives to redress the balance are already underway. Events like the Connecting Women in Maritime networking forum are giving a voice to women making their careers in the maritime industry, while the innovative Women in Ports Mentoring Program provides a global platform for education and training.
With the 2018 Seafaring Skills Census also showing that an aging workforce could lead to a 560-plus shortage of Australian seafarers by 2023, women have an opportunity to steer the Australian maritime industry into the future.
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