Behind the News: Women’s strengths

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Women from Fiji and the world celebrated a global milestone with the commemoration of the first United Nations-sanctioned International Day for Women in Maritime on May 18. Picture: SCREENGRAB/SHANELLE PRASAD

On May 18, women from Fiji and the world celebrated a global milestone with the commemoration of the first United Nations-sanctioned International Day for Women in Maritime.

Long overdue, the day celebrated and promoted the “recruitment, retention and sustained employment” of women in the maritime sector, as an ongoing commitment toward gender equality and inclusivity in the world.

According to statistics from the International Maritime Organisation, the specialised United Nations agency that sets standards for the safety and security of international shipping, women accounted for just 20 per cent of the workforce in the maritime authorities of its member countries and 29 per cent “across subsectors in the maritime industry”.

These figures are said to be significantly higher than the number of women who work at sea, where women make up a mere two per cent of the workforce.

Behind the statistics are a variety of determinants.

Perhaps the most common reason can be traced back to our primitive days, when men were hunters in most societies and the sea, being an unpredictable frontier on earth, demanded undaunted stamina and physical strength.

Also, the mental and physical demands of sea transportation and long sea journeys better suited men who had the skills set women then didn’t have so sailing and shipping was regarded a masculine activity.

In old Fiji, while women were born into a fisherman’s and woodsman’s clan, that were involved in fishing, sailing and building canoes, their participation in fisheries and sailing were very limited.

While men were largely responsible for gathering fish, women would fetch for seafood abundant on reef flats, such as sea urchins, octopus, fish, seaweed and other edible marine organisms.

They also helped in canoe construction but their work was limited to weaving and mending sails.

In the western world, the story was virtually the same.

However, throughout history many women defied tradition and dared to challenge the way things were in the maritime field.

According to history records, in 1562, the story of a Dutch widow, Geert Jans, emerged. She inherited a shipyard from her husband and managed it for 36 years.

In April 1694, a contract was signed between the English Navy Board and a female shipbuilder named, Anne Wyatt, for the building of an 80-gun three-deck warship called Cumberland.

It is said Wyatt oversaw the construction of two other naval ships.

In 1770 Mary Lacy, disguised as a man, received her shipwright certificate in England and worked among male shipbuilders.

She was the wife of a shipbuilder and took over the shipping business when her husband died of small pox.

In the United States, Mary Patten, temporarily took command of a ship in the 1850s.

Her husband was ship Captain Joshua Patten.

When the Captain fell ill in 1856, Mary took over as captain with the second mate’s help and the support of the crew.

She became the first female commander of an American merchant vessel.

She took command for 56 days, survived an attempted mutiny, and successfully managed to navigate the clipper to San Francisco.

When the two world wars broke out, women took over many jobs that men used to do, including those in the maritime sector.

The largest mass hiring took place in WWII and things were never the same again.

Today, women continue to break down barriers in the maritime industry and inspire the next generation of women and girls to infiltrate the space that was once a “men only” domain.

“There is an increase in participation of women throughout the maritime sector, but change is happening very slowly, especially in seafaring,” said American independent advisor on climate and ocean, Maria Damanaki, said during this year’s Women of the 9th annual World Ocean Summit.

“The worst case is the longerdistance fleets,” she said.

According to the 2021 Seafarer Workforce Report, women represented just 1.28 per cent of the global seafarer workforce.

The low numbers were partly due to shipowners not willing to have women on board.

With the IMO now more committed to gender inclusivity, chief executive Kitack Lim said things were slowly but surely changing and women would be more visible than ever before.

For over three decades, IMO had worked tirelessly to address the gender imbalance in its maritime program.

“We have committed to this important cause — and we are seeing these efforts bear fruit,” Mr Lim said.

“I am pleased that there are more women in our sector than in the past — as well an increasing number of diversity champions and allies.”

Mr Lim said by actively empowering women with the requisite skills and maintaining a barrier free working environment, the world could create truly “sustainable systems of gender equality”.
Here in the Pacific region, the Pacific Women in Maritime Association (PACWIMA) has played an instrumental role in supporting women in the Pacific.

Set up in 2004, its goal was to empower women as important stakeholders in the maritime sector and facilitate their full participation as human resources.

Only 16,000 people work in the maritime trade of the Pacific region.

Eight hundred of them are women.

In Fiji, Women in Maritime Association (Fiji WIMA) has held several workshops and training sessions supporting aspiring Fijian women in the maritime sector to be catalysts for change.

For instance, Fiji WIMA, held its inaugural program on “Project Management”, funded by the US, during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The program achieved a 100 per cent pass rate.

The association has also already hosted leadership workshops, and awareness and prevention training on sexual harassment in the workplace.

This newspaper has covered many stories where women dared to dream of carving their names in the shipping, port trade and fisheries industry.

Some time back we introduced Captain Ofa Qarase who raised issues faced by women seafarers, among them — sexual harassment and harsh working conditions.

She encouraged women seafarers to “communicate your problems” and “seek advice” from those who could help them progress further in the industry.

We also introduced Sainimere Qutonilaba, 26, from Savusavu who was the second mate on Goundar Shipping Services’ inter-island vessel, Lomaiviti Princess VI.

Like Captain Ofa, Sainimere epitomises a cadre of ambitious Fijian women who are now pushing the boundaries in a male dominated field and furthering the advancement of women in the maritime sector and the ideals of gender equality.

She started her career in the industry with GSS in her first year of cadetship and during her interview with The Fiji Times had completed Stage 5 and was finishing her Trade Diploma in Nautical Science.

“I have always wanted to work on a ship as a captain and to be able to sail,” she said, thanking her father for supporting her career choice.

“I would like to thank my father for supporting me in my career… being the first person to work as a seafarer in my family is an accomplishment that I’m proud of,” she said.

Her advice to young women seafarers was to “never be scared of doing something new” and “always believe that you can do anything”.

While opening International Day for Women in Maritime, Minister for Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport, Faiyaz Koya, said May 18 reminded industry stakeholders of their personal and organisational responsibility for breaking the biases that existed in the sector.

“Whilst there is still a gender imbalance in maritime, we are recognising that diversity within the industry. This diversity holds advantages for the entire industry — an industry made stronger by each individual irrespective of gender,” Mr Koya said.

“We envisage seeing more women join the industry, and hold prominent role… this is your break, so fully harness the opportunities you have.”

Last week’s celebration also saw the presentation of six awards to women who had made a significant contribution to the Fijian maritime sector.

They represented every other woman who has contributed, directly and indirectly (and often unseen and unappreciated) to the success and growth of Fiji’s maritime sector, including our fisherwomen (our mothers, sisters,
aunties and grannies etc) who struggle to support their family in the rural and peri-urban areas.

We can only wish them the very best and hope they continue to break barriers that have inhibited their participation in an industry that drives trade and economic growth for Fiji, and the world.

Until we meet on this same page same time next week, stay blessed, stay healthy and stay safe.

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