IMO's World Maritime Day calls for the empowerment of women in the maritime sector

This year at the IMO is all about equality of women, because, even today, of the 1.2 million seafarers only 2 percent are female. The International Maritime Organization utilizes this year's theme to raise awareness of its various initiatives and programmes to empower women in the maritime sector and promote this crucial topic.

This year's World Maritime Day of the International Maritime Organization IMO is set for 26 September 2019. To celebrate this day, the authorities of the German coastal states hoist the state flag.

Every year the World Maritime Day focuses on a relevant topic. This year is dedicated to the major topic "Empowering women in the maritime community". Throughout the year, various events and campaigns incorporate the awareness-theme.

At the beginning of April, the World Maritime University held an international conference about women in the maritime industry. On the Day of the Seafarer on 25 June, the IMO gained wide social media attention with their slogan „I am on board with gender equality‟. Now, in September, a parallel event in Colombia accompanies the theme of the World Maritime Day and expands on it.

Weltschifffahrtstag 2019

Already at the end of the 80s, IMO started to support the integration of women in the maritime sector. Over several phases, it created the necessary framework conditions to get more women interested in work at sea. The goal has always been for more women to visit maritime training facilities and subsequently spent work experience time on board.

The IMO has gender-specific fellowships, facilitates access to high-level technical training for women in the maritime sector in developing countries and promotes the advancement of women in maritime authorities. In their programme "Women Maritime – IMO's gender programme" under the slogan "Training – Visibility – Recognition", IMO joins the agenda of the United Nations to implement the fifth of the seventeen sustainable development goals "to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls". With their initiative, the IMO aims to overcome prejudices against women in maritime professions, to open up training opportunities to women and to facilitate female careers in technical and nautical professions at sea and at land.

Under IMO's auspices, seven regional maritime associations for women that want to strengthen employment opportunities in the shipping industry have been established. Reducing cultural stigmata and prejudices remains a challenge in their attempts. Only two percent of the 1.2 million seafarers worldwide are women. Of this already small proportion, most women work in the cruise industry.

Find out more about the IMO's gender programme "Women in Maritime" and the World Maritime Day 2019.