The role of the International Labour Organisation in reducing maritime gender gap and motivating more female towards seafaring careers

Abstract

In the Maritime transport sector there is a large gender gap, considering that women are estimated to represent only 2% of the total number of seafarers across globe (ILO data, 2003). While there is a real demand of seafarers on the shipping market (BIMCO/ICS statistics), women seafarers represent untapped resource for the employment needs. This paper presents the partial outcome of a holistic research study on the actions needed to motivate female join maritime seafaring careers and reduce maritime gender gap. The aim of the study is to identify the perception of various maritime stakeholders on the capacity of institutions to develop actions for attracting more women towards seafaring careers. The results of the research are obtained through literature review on ILO programs, discussions/interviews and online survey targeting the opinion of 823 maritime stakeholders: employers, other organizations in the maritime industry, female seafarers, male seafarers, female ex-seafarers, male ex-seafarers and other. The study emphasizes the role of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for reducing the world maritime gender gap through amendments to legal instruments as the Maritime Labour Convention or other conventions.