New IMO Logo to Increase Visibility for Women in Maritime

Published Feb 9, 2019 4:16 PM by The Maritime Executive

The IMO has launched a new logo for its Women in Maritime program as part of its mission to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

The primary objective of the IMO Women in Maritime program is to encourage IMO Member States to open the doors of their maritime institutes to enable women to train alongside men. Since the program was established 31 years ago, the IMO has facilitated the establishment of seven regional associations for women in the maritime sector across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands, some 152 countries and dependent territories and 490 participants.

The program provides gender-specific fellowships, giving access to high-level technical training for women in the maritime sector in developing countries. One example is the long-running "Women in Port Management" course, hosted in Le Havre, France, in partnership with the Port Institute for Education and Research (IPER) and the Le Havre Port Authority, where, in 2018, 48 women from 32 countries received training on port management. So far, 308 women have received training under this activity alone.

At IMO’s World Maritime University (WMU) in Sweden, the proportion of women graduates has increased steadily over the years from four in 1985 to 79 in 2018. By the end of the academic year 2017-2018, 1,029 women had graduated from the University, out of a total 4,919 graduates.

At IMO's International Maritime Law Institute (IMLI), 361 women had graduated by the end of the 2017-2018 academic year, out of a total of 837 graduates.

IMO also facilitates the identification and selection of women by their respective authorities for career development opportunities in maritime administrations, ports and maritime training institutes.

During 2019, some 10 activities are planned under the umbrella of the IMO Women in Maritime program, including conferences, courses, workshops and regional meetings.

Program leader Helen Buni said: "The IMO Women in Maritime program supports the participation of women in both shore-based and sea-going posts under the slogan Training-Visibility-Recognition.”

The launch of the new logo for the Women in Maritime program comes as IMO focuses on women in maritime during 2019, under the World Maritime Day theme "Empowering Women in the Maritime Community."