Image courtesy of the International Maritime Organization.
The global maritime community celebrates Day of the Seafarer (DotS) on 25 June 2019. This year’s campaign promotes gender equality and demonstrates the importance and value of women within the professional ranks.
Led by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the annual DotS campaign seeks to engage individuals, primarily through social media platforms, to share their support for a chosen theme. This year, the IMO asked social media users to take selfies of themselves holding a sign reading “#IAmOnBoard with gender equality.”
The campaign also called on people to post their responses on a virtual wall to the question “if you could make just one change to achieve gender equality in seafaring, what would it be?”
While the industry has become more diverse, particularly in recent years, the facts speak for themselves. According to the IMO, today women represent only 2% of the world’s 1.2 million seafarers. What’s more, 94% of our female seafarers are working in the cruise industry. This year’s DotS campaign has shown that there is a great level of solidarity, and a shared ambition to create a more inclusive and diverse working environment for all.
IRI, which provides administrative and technical support to the Republic of the Marshall Islands Maritime and Corporate Registries, one of the world’s leading ship registries, benefits from having a diverse team of individuals representing the organization worldwide. IRI/The Marshall Islands Registry supports the efforts being made by its owners and industry partners in opening-up the industry to new entrants, to welcoming change, and supporting the development of a more diverse workforce.
For more information on IMO’s Day of the Seafarer campaign, visit: http://www.imo.org/en/About/Events/dayoftheseafarer/Pages/day-of-the-seafarer-2019.aspx
