7 OCTOBER 2019
The maritime industry in NZ is committed to working to empower women in the industry.
The Maritime NZ Board hosted an event in Tauranga to commemorate this year’s World Maritime Day “Empowering women in the
maritime community.”
The event included a panel of high profile women in the NZ maritime industry who led a discussion on why empowering
women in maritime matters and how industry and Maritime NZ can work together to attract more women into maritime careers
both here and across the Pacific.
Panel members included Jo Brosnahan, Maritime NZ Chair, Sara Lunam, Corporate Services Manager for Port of Tauranga,
Lucy Hogan, NZ Merchant Service Guild, Louise Struthers, Chief Executive Strait NZ, Margaret Wind, Executive Director
Marine Transport Association, and Louise Deehan-Owen, Academic Lead NZ Maritime School.
The aim of the panel was to kick start a programme of work within the industry to attract more women to careers in
maritime.
Maritime NZ Chair Jo Brosnahan said, “I was impressed and inspired by the strong and clear leadership, and by the
openness and authenticity demonstrated by the women who joined us to talk about their thoughts on empowering women in
the maritime community. It is clear that this work is important, necessary, and needs the commitment of everyone in the
maritime community – not just the women.”
Executive Director of the Marine Transport Association Margaret Wind said “Empowering women starts from when they’re
girls. It’s up to those of us who have been in the industry a long time to make sure that the girls and young women who
are joining know that we’re there to support them and be their champions.“
The event was well attended with representatives from all areas of the industry sharing their views and ideas on why
empowering women in maritime matters and how we can expand the involvement of women in our maritime sector.
The feedback included a number of questions to consider, including how to identify and address the barriers to women
entering the maritime sector – barriers that can be practical, cultural, and related to making maritime careers visible
and creating viable options for young women. There was strong support for acknowledging the benefits that a more diverse
workforce would bring to the maritime sector, and commitment to making positive and sustained progress to inclusion and
support for women in this vital industry.
Sara Lunam from Port of Tauranga pointed out “Empowering women makes good business sense. Having women on site is proven
to lift productivity overall and improve work group dynamics.”
Lucy Hogan from NZ Merchant Service Guild shared some of her own experiences and said “Harassment is real, for men as
well as women. We need to tell the stories so we can do something about it rather than keep avoiding the hard stuff.”
Louise Deehan-Owen who is a senior lecturer and Academic Lead at the NZ Maritime School added “We are seeing more women
come through the Maritime School. The next generation expect equal treatment for all. We need to ensure that the
students entering the Maritime sector have the tools to deal with confronting situations and understand their role in
supporting each other.”
Maritime NZ will be now be working with the maritime sector to put the ideas that came up at the World Maritime Day
event into action.
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