Making Waves #3: Taking stock of gender diversity in shipping for Women’s History Month

1974: A small step and a giant leap for women ????? 

In October of 1974, five previously all-male colleges of the University of Oxford admitted female undergraduates for the first time in its 878 years of history. There was however, another event that has gone largely undocumented, even though it was in itself a giant leap forward for women, specifically in the shipping industry. Two months later, a handful of women brokers involved in the tanker market from Germany, the Netherlands and the UK met for a Christmas lunch at the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in London UK. This important gathering was followed shortly thereafter by the formation of the Women’s International Trade and Shipping Association also known as WISTA, a pioneering body that has since become a major influence to attract women to the industry, as well as provider of support across maritime sectors. Nearly half a century on, in the midst of Women’s History Month of 2021, I sought to take stock of the state of gender diversity of shipping. To do so I interviewed a number of women in the industry, ranging from shipping journalists to naval architects, research analysts and shipping lawyers.

Cartoon of the month: “Welcome to the future” - Courtesy of Sheridan Hart

As David Bowie asked: Where Are We Now? ??

The short answer to that question is: it depends where you look. TradeWinds reported in a March 2021 article that in regions such as Scandinavia, the Mediterranean and Asia, family ties in shipping companies often helped women break through barriers to entry into the industry. Whilst in other industries this may be frowned upon, the idea of shipping dynasties has created strong inter-generational ties to the industry, including for women family members.

Maria Dragoumerli, a naval architect interviewed for this newsletter and fellow board member of the SPNL, was just a child when her father took her to his workplace, a shipyard. It was there, surrounded by towering metal hulls that she fell in love with the industry. However, WISTA Germany chairwoman Claudia Ohlmeier shone the light on the situation in her home country highlighting that Germany is lagging behind when it comes to women in leadership roles. This sentiment was echoed by a female research analyst at a leading London shipbroker: “What is pronounced is the lack of diversity in senior management - only 5% are women. Studies indicate that the numbers could actually be falling over the last few years” (Correctly so, according to the Maritime HR Association that number fell from 10% of all shipping executives being female in 2018 to 6% in 2020).

“It seems to be whenever I walk into a crowded room in a shipping event there seems to be quite a few women there these days. It wasn’t the case a decade ago.”

Though we are far from perfection when it comes to access to the shipping industry for women and more importantly being able to ensure the same opportunities throughout their careers in the maritime sector, both offshore and onshore, we should acknowledge progress made. We asked our interviewees whether they thought access to the industry had become easier. The majority had been the only women for a long time in their respective roles and now have noticed a visible difference in the number of women they came across in the industry. As Holly Birkett from TradeWinds put it: “It seems to be whenever I walk into a crowded room in a shipping event there seems to be quite a few women there these days. It wasn’t the case a decade ago”.

Shipowning companies headed by women as of 2021, measured in tonnage (Source: TradeWinds)

Shipping: Because I’m Worth It? ??

The famous tagline associated with a famous cosmetics brand was actually first coined in the 1970s as a campaign tag for the women’s rights movement of the period. Shedding light on gender diversity, or the lack of, in the shipping industry, begs the question as to why it is so difficult in the first place for women to gain access. Firstly, a distinction needs to be made between offshore and onshore roles. Joanne Rawley, Advisory Board member of Human Rights At Sea wrote a heartfelt letter to the industry this month. In it she described her frustrations and those of female professionals at sea at the slow pace of change, if any, in terms of attitudes and what was being done to combat gender discrimination. In her own words “Reaching out to connections in the industry, to discuss harassment and abuse the majority replied with, “well what did you expect working at sea with a load of men?” and that is when I realised that attitudes have not changed significantly where it matters most – at sea.” Holly adds: “Most women in the shipping industry have had some sort of negative experience where they have been sexually harassed in some way or someone has made an inappropriate comment”. This dire reality needs to be addressed and strong actions need to be taken in the industry to protect female seafarers and also women in on-shore roles or in office-based jobs in the maritime sector.

“It is rare that women make it to the very top management, not because they are less capable but because they are often forced to choose between career or family.”

Progress in gender diversity is now firmly on corporate agendas and that is a good thing. Structural challenges such as lack of maternity leave or flexible working arrangements are now being tackled at the level of the economy trickling down into the shipping industry. “What holds women back in career progression isn’t so much the industry but circumstances. It is rare that women make it to the very top management, not because they are less capable but because they are often forced to choose between career or family” one of our interviewee highlights. The increasing number of women in senior positions provides a beacon of hope not only for the industry as a whole but for aspiring female workers in the maritime sector. As Maria put it: “A director once said they were not discriminating per say but they would receive very few female applicants, there was simply a lack of female applicants in the talent pool”. One question our respondents were asked was whether they had any female mentors and/or today mentees. Not one replied they had a female mentor in the respective roles, usually being the only, or one of the few, women in their field at the time. Thankfully, this is now changing.

Technology: The Great Enabler or an Extra Barrier? ???????

As if the shipping industry wasn’t facing enough challenges in addressing gender diversity, all companies in the maritime sector are faced with the greatest technological disruption in their lifetimes. Advanced analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, internet of things and the list goes on, are more than buzzwords but a new reality all members of the industry have to contend with as part of their daily operations. STEM subjects and the technology industry as a whole are not known for their accomplishments in gender diversity. Which brings us to a crucial question: as technology changes traditional roles within shipping, will this change promote diversity or add an extra layer of difficulty in terms of access and success in the industry for the female workforce?

Some of our respondents argue that technology-focused roles tend to be more office-based and assume this would appeal more to women as opposed to a hectic life at sea. Others argue that an already apparent lack of diversity when looking at roles such as data scientists are more of a societal problem than a shipping industry one, arising from the misperception in school that men are better at mathematics and with computers. Holly probably summarises it best when she acknowledges the following: “Shipping has as much of a problem getting young blood into the industry as it does with increasing diversity. But we’re seeing the industry evolving and becoming more technologically sophisticated, which should hopefully help it become more diverse by drawing upon new recruits’ different fields of learning and experience in different sectors, such as tech.”

The IMO and WISTA have launched an industry-first global survey of women in maritime - click on the image to take the survey

To Summarise ??

Thank you for reading this edition of Making Waves. Please feel free to reach out to me directly or comment to share your thoughts on this month’s topic or anything shipping-related! See you next month.

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About Arthur Richier

Arthur is the Senior Freight Analyst for Vortexa based in London. Prior to this he was on the freight pricing desk at S&P Global Platts, covering dirty and clean tanker markets.

As part of the conversation around freight markets, and their impact from energy markets to our everyday lives, he has contributed to Bloomberg, TradeWinds, Tanker Shipping & Trade (as part of Riviera Maritime Media), Ship & Bunker, The Business Times (Singapore), The Houston Chronicle and Gulf News among others.

In his spare time he sits on the board of the Shipping Professional Network of London, where he aims to bring together young professionals from all aspects of the shipping industry to network, socialise and learn more about the industry he proudly forms part of.