Just in case you’ve somehow missed it, today June 25th, is the international Day of the Seafarer. This is a day to celebrate all of you men and women who spend your lives at sea.
However, in keeping with many current themes and celebrating or promoting equality in the workplace, the 2019 campaign has been designated “I Am On Board with Gender Equality.”
Recently there has been a long overdue emphasis on equality, equal pay, and basic rights for women in the workplace.
And in a such a ‘traditionally male’ workplace as shipping, there are not many working scenarios where the differences between men and women is as evident as in the maritime industry.
World Maritime Day theme 2019
This year’s World Maritime Day theme is Empowering Women in the Maritime Community and so at Martide we thought it was only right to draw some attention to all of you women who are making your mark in this male dominated industry.
Gender equality can be a struggle in any industry or workplace and to show your solidarity, if you’re a social media user, why not post the 2019 campaign hashtag: # IAmOnBoard on one of your accounts?
#IAmOnBoard is a great way for anyone in the mariner community - male or female - to show their support for gender equality in seafaring.
The focus of this year’s theme is to ask people involved in the maritime community to take a moment to think about what they would do if they could make just one change - no matter how big or small - to achieve gender equality in seafaring.
Contribute to the Day of the Seafarer website
If you’d like to contribute and post your own comment you can do that here on the official Day of the Seafarer website. Go and check it out - the bite-sized comments make for some really interesting reading and give a valuable insight into the thoughts and feelings of mariners of all genders across the globe.
And no matter how big or small you think your idea or thought is, it really doesn’t matter. Everyone’s ideas count - and you never know: your idea or comment could be the catalyst for change!
Current posts on the wall include everything from “Pay equality across nationality” to “Make available proper training and scholarships to young girls wishing to enter the maritime industry” to “Helping seafarers to have peace of mind during their service on board.” and they come from seafarers of both sexes from places as diverse as Iran, Philippines, Netherlands, Argentina and India.
Your maritime career, your life, YOUR community
The overriding and overwhelming feeling is that everyone deserves to have a voice: it doesn’t matter what gender, nationality or religion you are.
If you’re a seafarer, this is YOUR community. And if you feel that there are certain aspects of it that you’d like to see change, then you need to speak up.
Maybe it’s a little difficult to say something out of the blue or in your day to day working life, but today, Day of the Seafarer, belongs to you and this is the day to make your voice heard.
The question is: Seafarers – if you could make one change? What change would YOU make?
Eve Church
Eve is Martide's content writer, publishing regular posts on everything from our maritime recruitment and crew planning software to life at sea. Eve has been writing professionally for more than two decades, crafting everything from SEO-focused blog posts and website landing pages to magazine articles and corporate whitepapers.
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