Changing tradition
It is quite easy to assume that the maritime industry is driven by tradition rather than requirements of time; being a rather niche sphere, it is only natural to think it is playing by its own rules. However, having released 16-yearly salary surveys and multiple market analysis reports, we can now say that maritime IS changing, and following trends seen globally of diversity and inclusion. Maybe the pace is not as rapid as some would like, but looking back we see how from being viewed from the outside as an entirely male-dominated, more women are joining the industry and progressing.
In 2022, 87 companies participated in Spinnaker’s Maritime HR Association annual salary survey, reporting data for more than 42,000 shore-based maritime industry professionals in 95 countries. These are the key facts.
Since 2017, MHRA’s mean gender pay gap has reduced by 7% and the 2022 median pay gap of 39.95% is the lowest ever reported.
Gender Diversity analysis also reveals that 45% of the global Maritime HR Association workforce were female in 2022. It’s only 2% more than in 2021 but since we started collecting this data in 2018, we have seen a 10% increase.
15% of Executive Leadership roles are held by women.
Women are most likely to be found in corporate functions – making up over 50% of the Crewing, HR, Finance, Marketing and Admin Support roles. This tendency has not changed since 2018.
Outside the Corporate functions, the largest proportion of women is within the Commercial Operations job family – 32% in 2022.
Where more work needs to be done
Although the above is great news, it is still the case that most roles that require a deck or engineering background are still filled by males, explaining the smallest percentage of females are found in the Technical, Marine, Safety & Quality job family which is 13%.
Diversity challenges within your own business will vary based on location, culture and professional specialisms – each of which will pose their own unique challenges – but there are some key HR practices identified by the CIPD that can be adopted to support total inclusivity globally, including monitoring recruitment and progression, monitoring the take up and impact of flexible working, monitoring of rewardetc.
Get in touch via email or call +44 (0)1702 481660 to find out more about membership of the Maritime HR Association and/or gender diversity strategies.
Written by Daryna Rozum, Reward Consultant, Spinnaker
