Women associations in Marine and Blue Economy have urged the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to create a gender desk to ensure job availability for female seafarers.
The maritime women made the appeal at the Lagos International Maritime Week and the 9th International Maritime Business-to-Business Conference and Exhibition held in Lagos from Sept. 10 to Sept. 12.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the conference is, “Navigating the Future of Africa’s Marine and Blue Economy – Safety First.”
NAN reports that the topic of the round table was: “The Role of Women in Promoting Maritime Safety.”
The President, Women in Maritime Africa (WIMAfrica), Mrs Rollens Macfoy, said that establishment of the gender desk would enable the agency to focus more on female seafarers.
“There is need for creation of a gender desk to get more jobs for female seafarers, because 99 per cent of the women seafarers trained by NIMASA have no job.
“This is because there is no gender desk for the agency to monitor the employment level of female seafarers as shipowners still segregate them.
“With the creation of the gender desk, qualified female seafarers with prerequisite certificate of competency will be gainfully employed with proper monitoring,” Macfoy said.
She added that WIMAfrica also ensured more female seafarers operated in conducive environment.
She noted that the association had been receiving good recommendations as the female seafarers performed more excellently than their male counterparts.
Macfoy urged NIMASA to get female seafarers onboard foreign vessels to enable them excel in their shipping career.
Also speaking at the roundtable, the President, Women in Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA), Nigeria, Dr Odunayo Ani, said the role of women in promoting maritime safety was multifaceted and indispensable.
Ani, who was represented by a Maritime Lawyer, Bilikis Lawal, said that women’s contributions in education, leadership, advocacy, community engagement and innovation were paving ways for a safer and more sustainable maritime future.
She urged operators to continue supporting and empowering women in the maritime industry, saying that their involvement was not just beneficial but essential for the safety of the nation’s oceans and well-being of the global community.
“Since inception, the maritime sector has been male-dominated, with women often relegated to support roles. However, this narrative is changing.
“Women have been instrumental in various capacities, from engineering and navigation to policy-making and environmental advocacy.
“Women are driving innovations that enhance maritime safety. Many women are involved in developing cutting-edge technologies that improve navigation, monitoring, and communication at sea,” Ani said.
Another Panelist, the Vice-President, Women of West and Central Africa (WIMOCWCA), Mrs Nneka Obinyor, said that women played essential roles in ensuring that the seas remained safe and sustainable.
Obinyor called for more women enrollment in maritime programmes to foster a new generation of leaders who prioritised safety and innovation.
She commended the present NIMASA administration for positioning more women in the management cadre.
Obinyor urged other maritime organisations to position more women leaders to bring unique insights into risk assessment and crisis management, ultimately leading to more robust safety measures.
