Increasing female presence in traditionally male-dominated sectors is a challenge that is on every agenda, from international organizations that advocate for women’s rights, to local governments and public policies and even private initiatives of the big and small businesses around the world. The conclusion is clear: gender inclusion is here to stay. In the second day of the Latin American eForum, digital venue to address the challenges of the maritime industry with gender perspectives convened by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean ECLAC and co-organized with the WISTA associations of the region and red MAMLa network, the conversation was centered on international organisms’ gender equality initiatives and concrete actions that can -and must- be taken to close the hierarchy and salary gap between men and women in the maritime, port and transports industry.

International agenda

The presentation “Gender perspectives” shed light on ELCAC’s gender affairs program. Nicole Bidegain, Social Affairs Officer, Gender Affairs division ECLAC, presented “Challenges and opportunities for women’s economic autonomy in the COVID-19 crisis in Latin America,” highlighting that gender inequality is a ‘structural feature’ in Latin America. On this point she emphasized on the Compromiso de Santiago agreement (January 2020), where countries of the region and the Caribbean made a commitment to work on promoting a sustainable economic recovery, putting an end to work segregation and salary gap; ending gender stereotypes; closing access breach and use of technologies; supporting female export entrepreneurship; and investing in care economy. “[to overcome the crisis] governments have taken measures [in favor of women] but challenges remain, not so much in the mitigation of impact but looking towards long term reactivation. Guaranteeing women’s economic autonomy rights is key for this reactivation,” she said.

The International Maritime Organization IMO presented their “Women in Maritime” program, which has been working for female inclusion in the maritime industry for 3 years. Helen Buni, Principal Programme Assistant, Technical Cooperation Division highlighted that the program works alongside seven women’s associations, among which is WISTA International and red MAMLa network. “I am very proud of the great effort everyone has made and of the work of the WISTA associations and the red MAMLa network for their contribution to female inclusion in the maritime area,” she expressed.

Monitoring the impact

The second panel focused on the mechanisms to monitor the pandemic’s impacts, metrics to visualize data and concrete actions to lessen the negative effects of the crisis and, at the same time, work towards long term objectives for gender equality. Fabiana Martins, Americas ExCo WISTA International member talked about the current crisis and the specific challenges for women on this occasion, especially compared to the last economic crisis of 2008, which affected mainly male dominated sectors: “this is a ‘female pandemic’,” said the expert, highlighting that this crisis affects work areas predominantly populated by women and also the uneven distribution of non-paid work. “We cannot improve what we do not know. We need data,” said Martins pointing out the importance of applying technologies to capture data on female penetration in the work force in order to identify improvement areas, since there is a lack of concrete information on the amount of women that participate in the industry and the positions they occupy and the challenges they face. The participation of women in the maritime and port sector in Latin America and the Caribbean was the focus of María Belén Espiñeira, Vicepresident of WISTA Argentina, who shed light on the barriers that deter women from even considering a career in the maritime world, such as gender discrimination, hierarchy segregation and salary gap. “The presence of women in businesses improves their productivity, provides better operational results and has an overall more equal environment,” said the lawyer.

Safety and digital revolution

Besides a specific crisis -like the case of the COVID-19- safety is always an important issue in the maritime industry. From the cruise industry, captain Ioannis Pilides spoke of the strict safety measures that have always defined the cruise industry standard, with special emphasis on reinforcement in the health department with the creation of the Chief Medical Officer position in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Another important safety area is ocean governance and the lack of maritime security policies that pave the way for piracy. Joint presentation by scholars of the World Maritime University WMU, Adriana Ávila Zúñiga- Nordfjeld and Dimitrios Dalaklis, it focused on the importance of educating on the risks at high seas and alerting governments and NGOs to create norms and regulations to protect ships.

The fourth and last panel addressed another current issue: disruptive technologies and smart ports. Juan Carlos Lam, GST Panama, focused on the importance of innovative technical solutions to reap benefits in smart ports, such as digitalizing processes and smart platforms, increase efficiency and logistics processes, sustainability and environment and safety and protection. The closing of the panel -and the day- was in charge of Gabriel Pérez Salas, Economic Affairs Officer, Infrastructure Services division ECLAC, who addressed the challenges of the new supply chain in light of the pandemic, with the specific need to develop a more resilient, connected and safe supply chain. Recovery of the economic activity in a sustainable way would require 4 ‘IN’: investment, interoperability, integration and logistics intelligence.

Carlos Salgado, Chief Technical Cooperation for Latin America and the Caribbean unit IMO, addressed the more than 700 attendees of the second day of the Latin American eForum in his closing remarks, with special thanks to the panelists, the gender agenda in the maritime world and the importance of having equal participation in technical forums.

The Latin American eForum was sponsored by Women UN, International Maritime Organization IMO, WISTA International and the collaboration of SOMEMARPORT, Panama Maritime Chamber, Venezuelan Maritime Cluster, YoungShip Venezuela, Covault Group, VSV Marine & Port Group, MundoMaritimo as media partner and representatives of WISTA Argentina, WISTA Brazil, WISTA Chile, WISTA Colombia, WISTA Dominican Republic, WISTA Mexico, WISTA Panama, WISTA Peru, WISTA Uruguay and WISTA Venezuela.

By MundoMaritimo