Today is the International Maritime Organization’s official International Day for Women in Maritime. It is the day annually when the global shipping sector celebrates the important role women play in the maritime industry and highlights the challenges we all face in helping each and every woman achieve a successful career at sea, reports Stena Line.
Diversity Month
May is also being celebrated as Diversity Month at Stena Line and to mark the occasion Stena Line has announced the appointment of their first female Captain, Master Lynette Bryson. 34 year old Lynette from Scotland, Captain’s one of the Stena Line’s largest ferries, the Stena Adventurer, where she is the Night Master on the busy Holyhead – Dublin route between Wales and Ireland.
Official statement
Margareta Jensen Dickson, Group Head of People and Communications at Stena Line commented on this landmark announcement: “with only 2% of the world’s 1.2 million seafarers being women, it is clear to us that it is vital to encourage more women into shipping. So it is with great pleasure that we can announce that following a trial period as Master, Lynette Bryson has been appointed as our first female Captain. Today we have shown that woman can succeed at sea and Stena Line will be here to support them.”
About Master Bryson
Master Bryson studied Physics and Applied Maths at Glasgow University, before specialising in maritime study at the Warsash and Glasgow Maritime Academies. She previously worked in the cruise sector at Marine Scotland, before joining Stena Line as a Second Officer in 2017.
Captain Lynette Bryson, Master on the Stena Adventurer, says: “growing up in a small fishing village in the Highlands of Scotland I lived and breathed the sea from an early age. At school I knew right away that I didn’t want an office job – I just had to work at sea. I am incredibly proud to be sailing as a Master on the Stena Adventurer, and as the first female Master, this could not have been done without the support of my colleagues at Stena Line. I hope my position can encourage more young women to follow my path and have a successful career at sea.”
Stena Line’s diversity ambitions are guided by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 5 – Achieve Gender Equality and Empower all Women and Girls– and specifically, to achieve Target 5.5 “Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life”. The aim is to successfully fulfil one of the key indicators to achieving this, which is the ‘proportion of women in managerial positions’.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe
Source: Stena Line
