Changing Course
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IWD25 – How is the industry doing?
This International Women’s Day, we’re spotlighting the voices of CEOs, Directors, and Executive Leaders as they share their insights on the evolving maritime industry. With women still making up only around 30% of the workforce, progress toward gender equality continues—but there’s more to be done. We spoke with industry trailblazers about the initiatives in place to support women, the changes still needed to achieve true gender parity, and how the industry is adapting to attract and retain female talent.
Join us as we hear from Gina Panayiotou, CEO & Founder of Oceans Arena, on her perspective and experiences in shaping a more inclusive maritime sector.
How has the maritime industry changed when it comes to the attraction and retention of women in the sector?
When it comes to visibility of women and role model awareness we have seen massive improvements. The IMO and associations like WISTA have played a pivotal role in this, especially since 2019 with the WMD Theme being Empowering Women, gender equality has been pushed forward. Especially with the new Secretary-General of the IMO, Arsenio Dominguez, who committed in his manifesto and upon assuming his duties to be a champion of gender equality, making it clear that he will not sit in places where there is not equal representation.
We still have a long way to go, however seeing more women and greater industry commitment, definately leads to attracting more women; retention is another story. Retention requires even deeper work, but the clearer and louder the message gets and the better we understand how the more action we will see.
Have you put any practices in place to support women and their progression into leadership/advancement within their career?
Personally I run a community “Brand Women as Leaders Today” where we provide support mainly for entry-level females in the industry, helping them with mentoring, connections, build up of soft skills and of their personal brand.
This year WISTA UK also joined forces with the Women in Transport mentorship programme.
What do you think still needs to change when it comes to achieving gender parity in maritime?
1 – Leadership training for existing primarily male-dominated Boards, on matters like unconcious bias, male allyship and inclusion
2 – Mentorship internal & external for women to be adequetly supported through their journey and career progression
3 – Revisiting and addind more gender equality friendly and inclusive policies and practises
4 – Impact communication strategies showcasing women in the sector
5 – Catching them young and raising awareness from schools on the array of opportunities and diversity of roles available in the sector