IMO Movie Promotes Gender Diversity

A new film from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) shows how IMO's Women in Maritime program is helping to support gender diversity in the maritime sector

The maritime world is changing - and for the better. With help from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), exciting and rewarding career opportunities are opening up for women and a new generation of strong and talented women are responding.

They are proving that, in today's world, the maritime industries are for everyone. It's not about your gender, it's about what you can do.

"We see more women involved in different departments within the maritime industry, we don't see them in the conventional roles anymore, where cooks and clerks, we see them in engineering, we see them going to sea, you see them in the radio rooms and communications, and intelligence, so it's definitely improved," says Lieutenant Alma Pinelo, an officer in the Belize Coast Guard. Lieutenant Pinelo is one of hundreds of women who have benefitted from IMO's Women in Maritime program.

The program, initiated in 1988, supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. The program supports the participation of women in both shore-based and sea-going posts, under the slogan Training-Visibility-Recognition, through a wide range of gender-specific activities.

IMO Member States are encouraged to open the doors of their maritime institutes to enable women to train alongside men and acquire the high-level of competence that the maritime industry demands. Today, female graduates from IMO's training institutes, the World Maritime University (WMU) and the IMO International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI) hold positions of responsibility across the maritime world.

WMU counts more than 1,000 female graduates to date, while IMLI was the first UN body to include a requirement that 50% of its places be reserved for women.

"I applied to the World Maritime University, I got the fellowship and since graduating from the World Maritime University my career has really skyrocketed," says Deniece Aiken, Lawyer, General Counsel, Jamaica.

As well as training opportunities, IMO has facilitated the establishment of seven regional associations for women in the maritime sector across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands, some 152 countries and dependent territories and nearly 500 participants.