In a recent development, IMO announced that this year’s World Maritime Day theme is “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community” as the community celebrates the iconic day all over the world on September 26 , reports Sea News.
Importance of this theme
This provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of gender equality, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, specifically, SDG 5 and to highlight the important – yet under-utilized – contribution of women within the maritime sector.
How will it benefit?
Empowering women fuels thriving economies across the world, spurs growth and development, and benefits everyone working in the global maritime community in the drive towards safe, secure, clean and sustainable shipping.
How will it be done?
The World Maritime Day Parallel Event 2019 is being held in Cartagena, Colombia, 15-17 September 2019.
A series of activities and events have been/will be held during 2019 related to the theme Empowering Women in the Maritime Community. Many maritime stakeholders have enthusiastically taken up the theme, which has been highlighted at seminars, conferences and panel discussions.
On World Maritime Day 2019, IMO will be inviting organizations, companies and individuals to share what they have been doing this year to mark the theme of ‘Empowering Women in the Maritime Community’.
Other IMO Events Throughout the Year
IMO has been directly involved in numerous events. These include:
- 8 March: International Women’s Day celebration event at IMO Headquarters.
- March – launch of women in maritime profiles to showcase women who have benefited from the Women in Maritime programme.
- 4-5 April: 3rd International conference on Empowering Women in the Maritime Community at the World Maritime University, Malmö, Sweden. Read outcome.
- 5 April: Meeting of all seven IMO regional Women in Maritime Associations (WIMAs), on sidelines of WMU Conference.
- 10 April: “Women, ports and facilitation” special event held at IMO Headquarters during the Facilitation Committee meeting.
- 1 May: special event held at IMO Headquarters on International Labour Day, exploring issues around female representation in a traditionally male-dominated industry.
- 7 June: IMO special event at Nor-Shipping exhibition to highlight challenges – and the solutions – around encouraging women to take up seafaring roles.
- 25 June: On the International Day of the Seafarer, IMO, industry and other stakeholders joined the campaign to get on board with this year’s theme of gender equality and declare their support with the “# I Am On Board” hashtag.
- 25 June: IMO film, Turning the Tide, showing how IMO’s Women in Maritime programme is helping to support gender diversity in the maritime sector, premiered during the 69th session of IMO’s Technical Cooperation Committee (TC 69).
- 10 September: “Empowering women in the maritime community” theme highlighted by IMO at the WISTA International/Inmarsat panel on “Digitalization and Diversity”, during London International Shipping Week.
- 10 September: World Maritime Week Malaysia holds session on “Encouraging Gender Diversity in Maritime Industry”.
- 15-17 September: World Maritime Day Parallel Event 2019 in Cartagena, Colombia.
- 18-20 September: Regional conference for the Network of Women of the Maritime Authorities of Latin America – Red de Mujeres de Autoridades Maritimas de Latinoamerica (MAMLa).
- 26 September: Celebration of World Maritime Day at IMO Headquarters.
- Late 2019: initiating IMO/WISTA study to collect and analyse data on the number of women employed in the maritime sector.
Did you subscribe to our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Sea News
