During 2022, WISTA International continued to take steps towards improving diversity and inclusion in the maritime and shipping sectors, working with several partners to address the current gender imbalance across the industry and create more opportunities for everyone. 

Collaboration will also remain a key theme for 2023: I’d like to see more collaboration between organisations and other industries. I truly believe that this is crucial for addressing many of the challenges the shipping industry faces such as decarbonisation, digitalisation, attracting the next generation of talent and improving diversity.

WISTA International is committed to driving change and this momentum will not slow in the year ahead. 2023 will be another year of action and the results from the first IMO-WISTA Women in Maritime Survey have provided us with the much-needed benchmark to build from. The report revealed that women make up only 29% of the overall workforce and highlighted the areas where more work is needed as female representation in certain professions is particularly low, such as in the seafaring and search and rescue professions.

Collaboration will also remain a key theme for 2023: I’d like to see more collaboration between organisations and other industries. I truly believe that this is crucial for addressing many of the challenges the shipping industry faces such as decarbonisation, digitalisation, attracting the next generation of talent and improving diversity.

Finally, the growing importance of ESG criteria will put the spotlight on the social considerations organisations must address, which take in the policies they have in place to protect the environment and support diversity and inclusion. Our industry must embrace accountability, and this will require organisations to be more transparent to ensure we continue to move in the right direction.