In 2022 some interviews were conducted with female managers across a range of significant maritime businesses globally and in Australia, coinciding with International Women in Maritime Day. The purpose was to find out what structural and cultural reforms might be made to keep assisting women working in the businesses. Here are some of the key quotes from those interviews. Annelise Goldstein, chief human resources officer at Maersk Tankers, said, ‘To help women advance their careers … requires ongoing work at structural, cultural and individual levels, where an important step is that we are working to become more inclusive when we hire, develop and promote employees, by challenging our biases and assumptions.’ Gina Panayiotou, founder and CEO of ESG Consultancy Oceans Arena, said, ‘We need to embrace ESG [environmental, social and governance] for the opportunity that it brings to create a better future. It’s an opportunity to rewrite company policies that reflect equality and equity, to ensure recruitment procedures facilitate the inclusiveness of females at all levels from top to bottom, reassess criteria and start hiring for skill rather than experience in key roles, ensure the image that a company projects will attract female talent and train employees on gender sensitisation. you cannot embrace what you do not fully understand . we need to create a framework that supports successful implementation.’ Shagufta J Ahmed, founding broker of Delhi-based DBC Oceanic Shipbroking & Shipping Services, said, ‘More companies need to encourage women employees with incentives, opportunities to work from home and flexible work options. Companies need to have policies for inclusiveness, mentorship and support programs for women who want to come back to the workforce after having kids.’
Carleen Lyden Walker, co-founder and executive director of the North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA), said, ‘…the involvement of women exists both on ships and ashore. For mariners on board, it is imperative that women feel safe … I would also add the ability to work remotely in order to balance both professional and personal demands. COVID-19 demonstrated that remote working works; let’s continue to make that a possibility so women can better access shipping as a profession.’
Questions Mainstream
1. When a shipping business becomes involved in restructuring, what are some structural changes the business could make to ensure that their best female employees do not leave?
2. Would the suggestions made by these managers in the maritime industry be more readily achieved through organic or mechanistic types of organisational structure?
Critical
1. Would you say that a culture of inclusiveness for women is strongly influenced by the structuring strategy of maritime businesses? Explain.
2. One manager mentioned the need to embrace ESG. Can a maritime business simply provide an ESG policy to achieve this, or is some significant structural change to the business likely to be needed? Explain.