Women in Maritime - Visibility

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International Day for Women in Maritime

18 of May has been established, following resolution A 32/Res.1170, as the International Day for Women in Maritime.

The day celebrates women in the industry and is intended to promote the recruitment, retention and sustained employment of women in the maritime sector, raise the profile of women in maritime, strengthen IMO's commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 (gender equality) and support work to address the current gender imbalance in maritime. 

In 2025, the theme for the Day is "An Ocean of Opportunities for Women", which celebrates the emerging prospects and transformative leadership roles women can assume in reshaping a traditionally male-dominated industry.

Click here for more information.

Women in Maritime - Survey

IMO and the Women's International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA International) conducted, in 2024, the second Women in Maritime Survey, which helps to identify the current state of gender diversity in the maritime sector, including the proportion of women in various roles, from seafarers to managerial and executive positions, and serves as a benchmark for evaluating the effectiveness of initiatives aimed at increasing gender equality over time. By collecting data, the Survey uncovers barriers faced by women in the industry, such as recruitment biases, lack of opportunities for promotion, or insufficient support for work-life balance. 

The Women in Maritime Survey 2024 report, pubished in May 2025, presents data on the proportion and distribution of women working in the maritime sector based on information collected from IMO Member States and the private sector.

Download the full survey report here

Key findings include:

  • The data covers a total of 176,820 women working in maritime across the public and private sectors in 2024 - an increase from 151,979 in 2021. 

  • Despite growth in the number of women covered by the survey, women account for just under 19% of the total workforce sampled, compared to a share of 26% in the catchment group reported in 2021.

  • Women account for 24% of the workforce of national maritime administrations in Member States, and only 16% of the surveyed private sector workforce (excluding seafarers). 

  • At sea, women remain vastly underrepresented, accounting for just 1% of the total number of seafarers employed by surveyed organisations.

The report goes beyond the numbers, offering actionable recommendations to help governments and industry leaders drive progress. These include:

  • Enhancing recruitment and retention strategies

  • Expanding mentorship and leadership development programs

  • Strengthening policy implementation

  • Ensuring safe, inclusive, and supportive work environments


Please find all the information about the 2024 survey here. 


Maritime Speakers Bureau 

The IMO and WISTA International have partnered up to create a new platform, the Maritime Speakers Bureau, which provides the public with a global database of female experts in all fields of maritime. The Speakers Bureau aims to promote women's voices in the shipping industry and ensure that maritime sector conferences and events have diversity of thoughts, to represent the diverse and dynamic world we live in.

It is free to register and use by speakers and organizers, and can be found at the following link: https://maritimespeakers.com/ 

Turning the Tide

A film from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) showing how IMO's women in Maritime programme is helping to support gender diversity in the maritime sector.

 


Maritime Women photo resources

Social Media Wall - #MaritimeWomenPhotoShare

To achieve a more diverse workforce, it is essential that women are visible – both within the maritime community and, more widely, in representations of the maritime sector in news reports and marketing material. 

IMO has invited women of the maritime sector to share photos of themselves at work, using the hashtag #MaritimeWomenPhotoShare. Thanks to contributions from around the world, IMO is building a bank of images of women in maritime, where external audiences can source quality and realistic photos for use in news stories, social media posts and brochures, for example. This can be accessed at the following link: Women in Maritime | Flickr

The aim is to achieve a more diverse representation of maritime careers in the media, so that roles such as captain, chief engineer and seafarer are also portrayed by women. This will be key in inspiring young women to embark a maritime career, by showing there is a place for them in the maritime sector. 

Women in maritime profiles

IMO has invited women who have benefited from the Women in Maritime programme to share their stories.
Please click on the thumbnails below to view the gallery of profiles.