IMO Addresses Gender Issue

International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Women in Maritime programme and this year's World Maritime Day theme were giving increased visibility at the Houses of Parliament, London, UK (4 March 2019), during a session on Women, Peace and Conflict Resolution.

The UN body said in a press note that information was provided on the strategic approach IMO has taken towards enhancing the contribution of women as key stakeholders over the last 31 years.

IMO is strongly committed to helping its Member States achieve the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5 "Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls".

Some 2% of the world's 1.2 million seafarers are women.

There is ample evidence that investing in women is the most effective way to lift communities, companies, and even countries. Countries with more gender equality have better economic growth. Peace agreements that include women are more durable.

Gender diversity in a team often makes for a more effective team i.e. some women are better piracy negotiators as those softer skills are more developed. The evidence is clear: equality for women means progress for all.

The event was organized by Rotary International.

IMO's gender programme was initiated in 1988. At that time, only a few maritime training institutes opened their doors to female students. Since then, IMO's gender and capacity-building programme has helped put in place an institutional framework to incorporate a gender dimension into IMO's policies and procedures. This has supported access to maritime training and employment opportunities for women in the maritime sector.